先有麵包還是先有農業 約旦出土驚人新發現
http://www.cna.com.tw/news/aopl/201807170228-1.aspx
（中央社華盛頓16日綜合外電報導）
約旦東北部的遺址出土一片 1萬4500年前的麵餅，表皮還能見焦黑
痕跡，讓研究人員有了驚喜斬獲：原來早在人類發展出農業數千年
前，就已開始製作麵包這種主食。
不論從哪個角度切入，這項今天宣布的發現都直指，居住地中海東
部狩獵、採集的人們，早在人類奠定種植作物的根基前4000多年，
就已達到製作麵包的文化里程碑，比過去所知還要早非常多。
新出土的麵餅可能未經發酵，有點像我們現在吃的口袋餅。麵皮用
了大麥、單粒小麥 （einkorn）或燕麥等野生穀類，以及水生紙莎
草親緣植物的塊莖，磨成麵粉、並以手工製作而成。
這片麵餅源自納圖夫（Natufian）文化，在黑色沙漠（Black Dese
rt）一處遺址出土。納圖夫人已結束游牧，開始迎向定居生活。
研究發表於美國期刊「國家科學院學報」（Proceedings of the N
ational Academy of Sciences），主要作者、哥本哈根大學考古
植物學博士後研究人員阿朗－歐達耶吉（Amaia Arranz-Otaegui）
說：「在屬於這個年代的遺址出現麵包，非比尋常。」
阿朗－歐達耶吉指出，直到目前為止，麵包的起源一直與種植穀類
、豆科植物的早期農業社會相關連。過去年代最久遠的麵包證據，
出土自土耳其一處具有9100年歷史的遺址。
阿朗－歐達耶吉說：「我們現在必須評估，製作麵包和農業的起源
之間，是否存在關聯性。」「如果麵包成了炙手可熱的食物，那就
有可能為人類提供誘因，開始種植作物與農耕。」
（譯者：梁元齡/核稿：嚴思祺）1070717
This oven was used to make bread—thousands of years before agriculture
https://goo.gl/PW1tng
Thousands of years before the advent of agriculture, people were already
making bread. That’s the surprising conclusion of a new study based on a
curious find in northeastern Jordan.
At its most basic, bread is the combination of processed cereal grains and
water that have been baked, fried, or steamed. The process leaves behind
telltale chemical and structural properties that researchers can use to
identify the staple food. And that’s just what archaeologists found when
they investigated a 14,000-year-old site known as Shubayqa 1 in Jordan’s
Black Desert. The inhabitants, who were hunter-gatherers, left their home in
a hurry, with the contents of their most recent meal still smoldering in two
sunken fireplaces (one pictured).
With the help of a scanning electron microscope, which uses a beam of
electrons to return incredibly intricate zoomed-in images, the researchers
identified 24 pieces of char that were decidedly breadlike. Though the bread’
s exact grain remains unknown, its cellular structure resembles cereal grain
species such as wild einkorn, rye, or millet, and it was likely an
unleavened, flatbread. Some pieces incorporated root starches as well.