The world's oldest 'bread' is discovered in Turkey, it dates back to 8600 years ago!

Archaeologists in Turkey say they have discovered the world's oldest known bread, dating back to 6600 BC.

A largely destroyed kiln structure was found in an area called "Mekan 66," where there are adjacent brick houses, at the archaeological site of Çatalhöyük in the southern Turkish province of Konya, according to the Science and Technology Research and Application Center at Necmettin University. Erbakan of Turkey. (BITAM).

Around the kiln, archaeologists found wheat, barley, pea seeds and a round, palm-sized "spongy" residue, a press release said Wednesday.

Analysis determined that the organic residue was 8,600-year-old, unbaked, fermented bread.

"We can say that this discovery at Çatalhöyük is the oldest bread in the world," archaeologist Ali Umut Türkcan, head of the Excavation Delegation and an associate professor at Anadolu University in Turkey, told the Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency on Wednesday.

"It's a smaller version of a loaf of bread. It is not ripened, but fermented and has survived to this day with the starch inside. There is no similar example of something like this to date," he added.

Scanning electron microscope images showed air spaces in the sample, with the sight of starch grains "eliminating our suspicions," biologist Salih Kavak, a lecturer at Gaziantep University in Turkey, said in the release.

He added that the analysis revealed chemicals found in plants and indicators of fermentation. The flour and water were mixed, while the bread was prepared near the oven and kept for a while.

"It is an exciting discovery for Turkey and the world," Kavak said. The organic matter of both the wood and the bread was preserved by the thin mud that covered the structure, according to Türkcan.

Çatalhöyük, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was home to approximately 8,000 people during the Neolithic period, between 10,000 BC to 2,000 BC, and is one of the first sites of urbanization in the world, according to BITAM.

Research at the well-preserved site has revealed distinctive dwelling plans and extensive features such as wall paintings and reliefs, making it "the most significant human settlement documenting the early agricultural life of a Neolithic community," according to the site's website. UNESCO