Ancient bread rises as Turkey recreates 5,000-year-old loaf

The bread was charred and buried under the entrance of a 3,300 BC dwelling

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In the early Bronze Age, a piece of bread was buried beneath the threshold of a newly built house in what is central Turkey today.

Now, more than 5,000 years later, archaeologists have unearthed it and helped a local bakery recreate the recipe — with customers lining up to buy it.

Round and flat like a pancake, 12 centimetres in diameter, the bread was discovered during excavations at Kul-luoba, a site near the central Anatolian city of Eskisehir.

Ritual of abundance

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

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