Where bread began: Ancient tools used to reconstruct -- and taste -- prehistoric cuisine
Wednesday, August 26, 2015 - 10:20
in Paleontology & Archaeology
A group of intrepid Israeli researchers recently went back to the dawn of the Stone Age to make lunch. Using 12,500-year-old conical mortars carved into bedrock, they reconstructed how their ancient ancestors processed wild barley to produce groat meals, as well as a delicacy that might be termed 'proto-pita' -- small loaves of coal-baked, unleavened bread. In so doing, they re-enacted a critical moment in the rise of civilization.