Scientists discover 5,000-year-old loaf of bread - and work out the recipe to start baking

A 5,000-year-old is being revived by scientists who aim to create ancient style bread. In Turkey, the bread was made with coarsely ground emmer flour, an ancient variety of wheat, lentil seeds, and the leaf of an unknown plant. In the early , a piece of beneath the threshold of a newly built house in what is today central Turkey.

But now, archaeologists have unearthed it all these years later and they are helping a local barley to recreate the recipe. Locals have lined up to buy the which is round and flat like a pancake, it is 12 centimetres in diameter.

Impressively, the during excavations at Kulluoba, a site near the central Anatolian city of Eskisehir.

Murat Turkteki, archaeologist and director of the excavation, told AFP: "This is the oldest to have come to light during an excavation, and it has largely been able to preserve its shape.

"Bread is a rare find during an excavation. Usually, you only find crumbs."

The bread had been preserved because it had been burnt and buried under the entrance of a dwelling which was built in around 3300 BC.

It was discovered in September 2024 and has been put on display in the Eskisehir Archaeological Museum.

The city's mayor, Ayse Unluce, said: "We were very moved by this discovery. Talking to our excavation director, I wondered if we could ."

With a queue full of exciting customers, the first Kulluoba loaves, marketed as 300-gramme (11-ounce) cakes that cost 50 Turkish lira (around 95p), sold out within hours.

The rediscovery of the has sparked interest in the cultivation of ancient wheats better adapted to drought.

Once rich in water sources, the province of Eskisehir is today suffering from drought.

"We're facing a climate crisis, but we're still growing corn and sunflowers, which require a lot of water," said Mrs Unluce, the local mayor.

"Our ancestors are teaching us a lesson. Like them, we should be moving towards less thirsty crops," she added.

Mrs Unluce says she wants to protect this gift from the past and continue to preserve it as part of the country's .