Archaeologists from Necmettin Erbakan University say they have discovered the world’s oldest known bread, dating back to 6600 BCE, at Çatalhöyük, a renowned Neolithic settlement in central Anatolia, Türkiye (formerly Turkey).
The 8,600-year-old bread found at Çatalhöyük in Türkiye. Image credit: Necmettin Erbakan University.
Çatalhöyük is one of the largest and best preserved Neolithic settlements in the world.
The site is located southeast of the modern Turkish city of Konya, about 145 km (90 miles) from Mount Hasan.
Çatalhöyük began as a small settlement about 7500 BCE, likely consisting of a few mud-brick houses in what archaeologists call the Early period.
The settlement grew to its peak in the Middle period of 6700 to 6500 BCE, before the population declined rapidly in the Late period, and was abandoned about 5950 BCE.
Its inhabitants were early farmers, growing crops such as wheat and barley, and herding sheep and goats.
Discovered in the early 1960s by British archaeologist James Mellaart, Çatalhöyük received worldwide attention for its large size and well-preserved architecture.
Earlier excavations at the site produced a huge number of artifacts and ancient structures including a large wall painting of the town and two peaks, sometimes referred to as the world’s oldest map.
This is an artist’s impression of Çatalhöyük. Image credit: Dan Lewandowski.
In the new excavations, Necmettin Erbakan University archaeologists discovered an ancient building with an oven in the Mekan 66 area of the Çatalhöyük site.
Around the oven, they found wheat, barley, pea seeds as well as a ‘spongy’ organic residue.
The researchers determined that the residue was uncooked, fermented bread.
“We found that the small and round ‘spongy’ residue found in the corner of the oven was bread,” said Dr. Ali Umut Türkcan, an archaeologist at Necmettin Erbakan University.
“The fact that the building was covered with fine clay has allowed both wood and bread to be stored to this day.”
“We found that the bread has a porous, spongy structure and was not cooked,” added Dr. Yasin Ramazan Eker, also from Necmettin Erbakan University.
“The first known examples of fermented bread were found in Egypt,” Dr. Türkcan said.
“We can say that the new find from Çatalalhöyük is the oldest bread in the world.”