If France can claim the paternity of the baguette, Turkey can claim the fact of having found on its soil the oldest bread ever discovered.
A piece of bread dating from the 7th millennium BC has been identified at the archaeological site of Çatalhöyük, located in the Konya province in southern Turkey, reports CNN.
First of all, a largely destroyed oven was discovered at the site, explained the Center for Research and Application of Science and Technology at Necmettin Erbakan University of Turkey (BİTAM).
Around the kiln, archaeologists found wheat, barley, pea seeds and a round, “spongy” residue the size of a palm, the center said in a press release issued Tuesday. March 5.
Bread has survived the millennia thanks to starch
The analyzes made it possible to establish with certainty that this residue was fermented bread: “Thanks to careful documentation, we know that the small round spongy find in the corner of the oven was bread.
The fact that the structure was covered with a thin layer of clay and wood made it possible to find all these organic remains which date back to around 6,600 BC,” detailed Professor Ali Umut Türkcan, head of the team which carried out the archaeological excavations.
This piece of fermented bread found in Turkey is 8,600 years old.
Necmettin Erbakan University
“It’s a smaller version of a loaf of bread.
It was not cooked, but it was fermented and survived to this day with the starches it contains.
There are no similar examples to date.
We can say that this discovery made in Çatalhöyük is the oldest bread in the world,” he rejoiced.
“This is an exciting discovery for Turkey and the whole world,” said biologist Salih Kavak, lecturer at the University of Gaziantep.