In a historic discovery made on Monday, it has been revealed that bread was being baked at least 3,000 years before agriculture was developed - the opposite of what academics had previously claimed.
Remains of a flatbread - resembling pita bread - were discovered at an archaeological site in northeastern Jordan. The flatbread was baked about 14,500 years ago, a discovery which has been described as "exceptional."
"The presence of bread at a site of this age is exceptional," said Amaia Arranz-Otaegui, a researcher at the University of Copenhagen, according to Reuters.
Over the years, it has been believed that bread is a "product of agriculturist, settled societies, but our evidence from Jordan now basically predates the onset of plant cultivation … by at least 3,000 years," said Dr. Tobias Richter, co-author of the study from the University of Copenhagen.
The discovery was uncovered after charred breadcrumbs were found inside a fireplace at a site in the Black Desert in north-east Jordan.
"We now have to assess whether there was a relationship between bread production and the origins of agriculture," Arranz-Otaegui added.
"It is possible that bread may have provided an incentive for people to take up plant cultivation and farming, if it became a desirable or much-sought-after food."
The latest findings of the world's oldest bread will be published in the U.S. journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
It is believed that the bread was made from wild wheat and wild barley flour, mixed with water and cooked over fire.
Considering wild cereal bread "does not produce a net nutritional gain", according to The Independent, the food is believed to have been produced for cultural or social reasons.
Previously, the oldest evidence of bread was discovered at a 9,100-year-old site in Turkey.