Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Amaia Arranz-OtaeguiTobias Richter

Abstract

The origins of bread have long been associated with the emergence of agriculture and cereal domestication during the Neolithic in southwest Asia. In this study we analyze a total of 24 charred food remains from Shubayqa 1, a Natufian hunter-gatherer site located in northeastern Jordan and dated to 14.6-11.6 ka cal BP. Our finds provide empirical data to demonstrate that the preparation and consumption of bread-like products predated the emergence of agriculture by at least 4,000 years. The interdisciplinary analyses indicate the use of some of the "founder crops" of southwest Asian agriculture (e.g., Triticum boeoticum, wild einkorn) and root foods (e.g., Bolboschoenus glaucus, club-rush tubers) to produce flat bread-like products. The available archaeobotanical evidence for the Natufian period indicates that cereal exploitation was not common during this time, and it is most likely that cereal-based meals like bread become staples only when agriculture was firmly established.

Citations

Nov 11, 2018·Journal of Integrative Plant Biology·Matthew HaasMartin Mascher
Jun 24, 2019·The New Phytologist·Guillaume ChomickiSusanne S Renner
May 3, 2019·PloS One·Laura DietrichBrigitta Schütt
Feb 26, 2019·BMC Biology·Kai P Voss-FelsLee T Hickey
Jul 16, 2019·NPJ Science of Food·Hiroyuki Yano
Dec 3, 2020·Frontiers in Genetics·Caitlin LahueCaiti Smukowski Heil
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Feb 11, 2021·Foods·Luis E Rojas Tovar, Michael G Gänzle
Jun 24, 2021·Animal Frontiers : the Review Magazine of Animal Agriculture·Daniel Fuks, Nimrod Marom
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Aug 10, 2021·Frontiers in Psychology·Giuseppe Barbiero, Rita Berto

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
scanning electronic microscopy

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