70,000-year-old 'flatbread' discovered in caves of Iraq presumed to be oldest cooked meal

Archaeologists on Thursday discovered a 70,000-year-old flatbread at a Neanderthal site in northern Iraq. The evacuation of the region led to the discovery of the flatbread which is now considered the oldest meal remains discovered. According to Middle East Monitor, the flatbread was unearthed from the Shanidar Cave, 500 miles north of Baghdad in the Zagros Mountains located in the Kurdistan region. The findings of the discovery were published in Cambridge University’s Antiquity journal. 

Speaking on the discovery, Chris Hunt, a professor of Cultural Paleoecology at Liverpool John Moores University said, “The old stereotype is that Neanderthals were less intelligent than modern humans and that they had a largely meat-based diet. Our findings are the first real indication of complex cooking – and thus of food culture – amongst Neanderthals," adding, “Because the Neanderthals had no pots, we presume that they soaked their seeds in a fold of an animal skin.” According to the Antiquity journal, the discovery resembles an archeological example of “Charred bread-like food”. 

Similar charred food remains were discovered in Franchthi Cave in Southern Greece

Similar charred food remains were recovered from Franchthi Cave in Southern Greece, the area was occupied by early modern humans about 12,000 years ago. It was revealed by microscopic inspection of the charred bread that one of the common ingredients in cooked plant foods is the use of Pounded pulses. The ingredient was common in Palaeolithic-cooked meals in South-West Asia and Eastern Mediterranean. 

Announcing the recent discovery at the Shanidar Cave, Dr. Ceren Kabukcu, an Archaebotanist from the Liverpool university said, “We present evidence, for the first time, of soaking and pounding pulse seeds by both Neanderthals and early modern humans (Homo sapiens) at both sites, and during both phases at Shanidar Cave.” Ceren was responsible for leading the study in the cave.