Mystery of burnt bread

Toward the end of the excavation season at the Küllüoba prehistoric archaeological site near Eskişehir, in central Türkiye, something miraculous happened. It was late in September 2024 and the archaeologists were about to wrap up the season’s findings and close the excavation site until the next season. And then, suddenly, a small finding was discovered on the doorway of a building. There it was: A small, round, disc-like substance, with only a bite-sized fragment missing. It was completely charred and carbonized. The archaeologists soon realized that it was the remains of burnt bread. That piece of carbonized bread was about shed new light on the history of bread and contribute to writing the agricultural history of Anatolia.

A bread story

The discovery of the bread immediately made headlines in local newspapers, leading to the writing of a completely different story. Upon seeing the news, Ünsal Yamaner, the general manager of Lasaffre Türkiye, which is also based in Eskişehir, got very excited and wanted to meet with the excavation director right away. The next day, they were already discussing future projects with Professor Murat Türkteki, the head of the excavation. This paved the way for a wonderful collaboration, with Lasaffre Türkiye becoming one of the leading sponsors of the Küllüoba excavation, not only as a producer of yeast and bakery products, but also with the prospect of contributing to culinary history.

Another exciting development came from the Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality, one of Küllüoba’s major sponsors. Soon, the R&D team of Eskişehir Halk Ekmek started experimenting with recreating the ancient bread. Halk Ekmek, translated as “Public Bread,” is a municipal organization aiming to provide people with low-cost and high-quality bread. After searching for the appropriate wheat type, they succeeded with the “gernik/kavılca” variety, which is the closest wheat variety to the ancient one, luckily still cultivated in certain parts of Anatolia. Since May 2025, Eskişehir Halk Ekmek has been producing bread that is as close as possible to the original Küllüoba bread, preserving this ancient culinary heritage for the future.

Old bread from the Oldest City of the ‘Old City’

Eskişehir means “Old City” in Turkish. Küllüoba is considered as the oldest city in Eskişehir, aka the old city. Küllüoba deserves this title with its 5,000-year history; of course, that is for the time being, since there are about 200 prehistoric sites in the region that are yet to be excavated and older settlements could be unearthed at any time. Küllüoba provides important data on the history of agriculture and food, particularly with its early Bronze Age findings, such as this carbonized bread found almost intact. According to radiocarbon analysis, the bread dates to 3100 BC, making it a uniquely rare example from an archaeological perspective. The bread has a round, disc-like shape, 12 cm in diameter, 2.5 cm in thickness. It is made from coarsely ground emmer wheat, botanically “Triticum dicoccum,” and also contains lentils, Lens culinaris. Tiny air pockets in the dough indicate that the bread was likely leavened and kneaded. Most interestingly, it was found at the doorway of a house, under a layer of sterile soil, almost as if it had been laid there as an offering, or as part of a ritual. This discovery not only demonstrates the skill of Early Bronze Age people in bread-making, but also highlights the symbolic meaning that bread carried for them. That small, blackened fragment from Küllüoba, possibly the oldest bread found in Anatolia so far, speaks to us across 5,000 years — telling the story of how food was not only just for survival, but also a vital part of belief, identity and ritual.

Culinary heritage for the future

So, why is Küllüoba bread important? Anatolia and Mesopotamia, also known as the Fertile Crescent, are where the Neolithic Revolution began. The transition of humanity from hunter-gatherer communities to agriculture and settled life happened on these lands. First, wild wheat was harvested and then cultivated. The transition from cave life to settled life, in parallel with the development of agriculture, happened here. As grain cultivation developed, the first cities and city-states were formed. In a sense, the development of the Anatolian civilization was tied to the cultivation of wheat, barley and similar grains.

Grinding wheat into flour and making bread from flour is another story. Wheat was probably first consumed in whole grain form, similar to today’s “keşkek,” a wheat berry stew or porridge, commonly served as a communal wedding dish throughout Anatolia. Wheat must have also been turned into “bulgur,” which is parboiled and dried cracked whole wheat berries, a product that can be stored for a long time without fear of rotting or sprouting, still a staple food of Anatolian cookery. The first bread was likely unleavened and flat. The making of leavened bread from ground wheat most probably developed later. Over time, even the wheat varieties diversified and wheat itself evolved.

Excavations are important not only for discovering and understanding history, but also for preserving cultural heritage for the future and learning about the past. Unfortunately, prehistoric excavations like Küllüoba are rare, making it extremely difficult to write the history of bread based solely on archaeological findings. It is still unclear whether the piece of uncooked dough formerly found at Çatalhöyük was actually a bread or a porridge-like dish. The first breads were probably flat, thin, unleavened dough breads similar to today’s lavash. Anatolia is also the cradle of ancient wheat varieties. Indeed, it is still possible to make Küllüoba bread using ancient wheat varieties that have not been lost, such as kavılca, gernik and siyez. Thanks to Küllüoba, efforts have already begun to cultivate these wheat varieties mainly around Eskişehir and to preserve our agricultural heritage. On the other hand, Küllüoba revealed interesting data about agricultural history. For instance, during periods of drought, people turned to dry farming and cultivated vetch instead of wheat or barley, which required more irrigation. With climate change being a major threat and, with groundwater resources drying up, that is a lesson learned from the past. This is why archaeology is important: It builds a bridge from history to the future for a sustainable planet.