MUNICH, GERMANY—While excavating the future site of a bakery in southern Germany, archaeologists uncovered evidence of a much older bakery dating back nearly three millennia, according to a report in the Miami Herald. Excavations overseen by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation in the town of Burgbernheim uncovered a millstone used to grind grain as well as a particularly large number of cooking pits containing charred material. Radiocarbon dating of this material established that it dates to 800 B.C. Botanical experts found that the material consists almost entirely of grains such as millet, einkorn, spelt, and oats. They also detected seeds from a type of berry. Altogether, the finds suggest that grain was being ground into flour and baked into bread or other delicacies at the site 2,800 years ago. To read about evidence of baking from Jordan dating to 14,400 years ago, go to “The First Bakers,” one of ARCHAEOLOGY’s Top 10 Discoveries of 2018.
