VOA慢速英语--约旦史前遗址发现世界上最古老的面包

World’s Oldest Bread Found at Prehistoric¹ Site in Jordan

The burned remains² of bread made about 14,500 years ago in northeastern Jordan have given scientists a surprise: humans started making bread long before they developed agriculture.

The bread was found in a stone fireplace at an ancient site in Jordan’s Black Desert.

It is the oldest bread ever found.

Researchers said this week that the discovery shows that hunter-gatherers in the Eastern Mediterranean³ learned to make bread more than 4,000 years before farming began. That is much earlier than scientists had thought.

The bread was made from wild cereals like barley⁴ and oats, as well as tubers. It was made by a group of people called the Natufians. At the time, they had started to change from a nomadic⁵ way of life to one in which they stayed in one place.

Amaia Arranz-Otaegui was a lead writer and researcher of the study. She is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. She called the bread discovery “exceptional.”

Arranz-Otaegui said scientists must now consider whether “there was a relationship between bread production” and the beginning of agriculture. She added that the desire for bread may have led nomadic people to start growing food and staying in one area.

She also said the researchers have begun the process of trying to reproduce the prehistoric bread.

The bread might not have been very tasty, Arranz-Otaegui said. She described the taste of the tubers used for the flour as “quite gritty and salty. But it is a bit sweet as well.”

The next-oldest bread ever discovered was found in Turkey. It was over 9,000 years old.

I’m Susan Shand.

Words in This Story

cereal – n. a plant that produces grain that can be eaten

tuber – n. a short, thick, round stem that is a part of certain plants (such as the potato), that grows underground, and that can produce a new plant

flour – n. powder made from a grain (especially wheat) that is used in cooking for making bread, cakes, etc.

nomadic – adj. a member of a group of people who move from place to place instead of living in one place all the time

archeological - adj. a science that deals with past human life and activities by studying the bones, tools, etc., of ancient people

gritty - adj. containing very small pieces of sand or stone

1 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

4 barley   

n.大麦，大麦粒

参考例句：

• They looked out across the fields of waving barley.他们朝田里望去,只见大麦随风摇摆。
• He cropped several acres with barley.他种了几英亩大麦。

5 nomadic   

adj.流浪的；游牧的

参考例句：

• This tribe still live a nomadic life.这个民族仍然过着游牧生活。
• The plowing culture and the nomadic culture are two traditional principal cultures in China.农耕文化与游牧文化是我国传统的两大主体文化。