An 8,000-year-old 'wheat fingerprint' reveals the origin of a loaf of bread
A tiny footprint found on a clay clay mold dating back to the Neolithic period in Georgia is helping to rewrite the story of one of the world's most important strategic crops, as this stunning discovery sheds light on how wild grass seeds were transformed into "bread", the staple food on which many civilizations and cultures were founded.
Home to bread wheat
Historical studies to determine the origin of the first grain of wheat vary, but a recent study published in the journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" (PNAS) suggests that bread wheat first appeared about 8,000 years ago in the South Caucasus region.
The study explains that this species originated as a result of a unique natural hybridization process between previously domesticated wheat species and a species of wild grass scientifically known as "Aegilops tauschii".
These findings are based on archaeological excavations carried out by the Georgian National Museum in the settlements of Gadacherli Gora and Shulaviris Gora, where evidence from these sites, which follow the "Sholaveri-Shumutepi" tradition, reveals prints of wheat ears meticulously preserved inside ancient clay milk and plant remains that confirm the existence of early and systematic experiments in agriculture in the region 8,000 to 7,300 years ago and Genetic evidence proves that domesticated wheat mated with native wild grasses, proving that Georgia is one of the main centers for the domestication of bread wheat.
David Lordkipanidze, director of the National Museum of Georgia, says the discovery places Georgians among the first farmers in history.
Lourdekipanidze links this discovery to the evidence found years ago of winemaking from the same period: "We have discovered traces of bread wheat and Georgia's winemaking dating back 8,000 years," he says confidently.
Melinda Zeider, an archaeologist at the Smithsonian, believes the study highlights the innovative spirit of the indigenous people of the South Caucasus.
Zeider explains that early farmers not only acquired knowledge from the surrounding areas within the Fertile Crescent, but also adapted and adapted it to suit the local climate and environmental conditions, which eventually led to the creation of the bread wheat we consume today.
When and where did man know wheat?
Ahmed Hajras, a full-time crop professor at Al-Azhar University, told Al Jazeera Net, "The small grain of wheat was the cause of the development of civil life on earth, and historians considered it the natural precursor to the emergence of human civilization, and human urbanization is closely linked to man's discovery of the cultivation of cereal crops, especially the wheat grain, which has been the most important part of the human diet since ancient times."
The story of wheat and bread begins with human history, and it is likely that the ancient Egyptians knew wheat as early as 2700 years BC, and that the origin of the "grain" of wheat is the Tigris and Euphrates valleys, as the well-known historian de Candol said in his book "The Origin of Cultivated Plants", which he published in 1882, in which he relied on archaeological evidence, history and philology to study the origins of plants, and from Iraq wheat moved to Palestine, then to Egypt and Africa, and then to different parts of the world.
Although the United States is one of the world's largest wheat-producing countries today, wheat did not move there until 1618 after its discovery, according to Hajras.
Perhaps the first person to eat bread was a person in a part of Sumer or Mesopotamia in 6000 BC, who prepared bread like the one we see today.
It is likely that the ancient Egyptians were among the first peoples to use wheat as a staple food supplement at the table, and historians believe that the ancient Egyptians were the first to make bread from wheat seeds, developed special ovens for its large-scale production, and learned to make bread yeast in 2600 BC, becoming a staple food for many of the peoples of the earth.