Ancient bread recipe in Turkey has been recreated
Archaeologist and director of the excavation - Murat Turkteki - said it is very difficult to find ancient bread like this one during a dig - as only crumbs usually survive - but because this bread was burnt and buried, it helped to preserve it.The city's mayor, Ayse Unluce, said she was very moved by the team's discovery, as it showed what life was like for people living there thousands of years ago, and she wondered if the bread could be recreated today as a tribute.
How did they work out the secret recipe?
The archaeologists studied the flat round-shaped bread in a lab to work out what ingredients it was made of.Their research showed that the bread was made of ground emmer flour - an ancient type of wheat - and lentil seeds, as well as the leaf of a plant which was used as a type of yeast to help the bread to rise.Unfortunately ancient emmer seeds no longer exist in Turkey.So, to find an ingredient that would be as close as possible to the original recipe, the team decided to try using Kavilca wheat, which is similar to ancient emmer.The scientists then worked with a team of bakers from the Halk Ekmek bakery (meaning "People's Bread" in Turkish) to try to make the loaves.They made around 300 loaves and sold out within the first few hours of opening.
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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Archaeologists solve mystery of 250-year-old shipwreck found on Scottish island
A schoolboy's chance discovery of the ribs of a wooden ship poking through the dunes of a remote Scottish beach sparked an extensive hunt by archaeologists, scientists, and local historians. Their mission: to uncover the vessel's long-lost story. Now, through a blend of high-tech science and dedicated community research, an answer has finally emerged. Researchers announced on Wednesday that the wreck is very likely the Earl of Chatham, an 18th-century warship that saw action in the American War of Independence, before a second life hunting whales in the Arctic, and ultimately met a stormy demise. 'I would regard it as a lucky ship, which is a strange thing to say about a ship that's wrecked,' said Ben Saunders, senior marine archaeologist at Wessex Archaeology. 'I think if it had been found in many other places, it wouldn't necessarily have had that community drive, that desire to recover and study that material, and also the community spirit to do it.' Uncovered after 250 years The wreck was discovered in February 2024 after a storm swept away sand covering it on Sanday, one of the rugged Orkney Islands that lie off Scotland's northern tip. It excited interest on the island of 500 people, whose history is bound up with the sea and its dangers. Around 270 shipwrecks have been recorded around the 20-square-mile (50-square-kilometre) island since the 15th century. Local farmers used their tractors and trailers to haul the 12 tons of oak timbers off the beach before local researchers set to work trying to identify it. 'That was really good fun, and it was such a good feeling about the community – everybody pulling together to get it back,' said Sylvia Thorne, one of the island's community researchers. 'Quite a few people are really getting interested in it and becoming experts.' Dendrochronology — the science of dating wood from tree rings — showed the timber came from southern England in the middle of the 18th century. That was one bit of luck, Saunders said, because it coincides with 'the point where British bureaucracy's really starting to kick off' and detailed records were being kept. 'And so we can then start to look at the archive evidence that we have for the wrecks in Orkney,' Saunders said. 'It becomes a process of elimination. 'You remove ones that are Northern European as opposed to British, you remove wrecks that are too small or operating out of the north of England, and you really are down to two or three … and Earl of Chatham is the last one left.' Wars and whaling Further research found that before it was the Earl of Chatham, the ship was HMS Hind, a 24-gun Royal Navy frigate built in Chichester on England's south coast in 1749. Its military career saw it play a part in the expansion — and contraction — of the British Empire. It helped Britain wrest control of Canada from France during the sieges of Louisbourg and Quebec in the 1750s, and in the 1770s served as a convoy escort during Britain's failed effort to hold onto its American colonies. Sold off by the navy in 1784 and renamed, the vessel became a whaling ship, hunting the huge mammals in the Arctic waters off Greenland. Whale oil was an essential fuel of the Industrial Revolution, used to lubricate machinery, soften fabric and light city streets. Saunders said that in 1787, there were 120 London-based whaling ships in the Greenland Sea, the Earl of Chatham among them. A year later, while heading out to the whaling ground, it was wrecked in bad weather off Sanday. All 56 crew members survived — more evidence, Saunders says, that this was a vessel blessed with luck. Community effort The ship's timbers are being preserved in a freshwater tank at the Sanday Heritage Centre while plans are discussed to put it on permanent display. Saunders said that the project is a model of community involvement in archaeology. 'The community have been so keen, has been so desirous to be involved and to find out things to learn, and they're so proud of it. It's down to them it was discovered, it's down to them it was recovered and it's been stabilised and been protected,' he said. For locals, it's a link to the island's maritime past — and future. Finding long-buried wrecks could become more common as climate change alters the wind patterns around Britain and reshapes the coastline. 'One of the biggest things I've got out of this project is realising how much the past in Sanday is just constantly with you — either visible or just under the surface,' said Ruth Peace, another community researcher.
The Independent
10 hours ago
- The Independent
Science and local sleuthing identify a 250-year-old shipwreck on a Scottish island
When a schoolboy going for a run found the ribs of a wooden ship poking through the dunes of a remote Scottish beach, it sparked a hunt by archaeologists, scientists and local historians to uncover its story. Through a mix of high-tech science and community research, they have an answer. Researchers announced Wednesday that the vessel is very likely the Earl of Chatham, an 18th-century warship that saw action in the American War of Independence before a second life hunting whales in the Arctic — and then a stormy demise. 'I would regard it as a lucky ship, which is a strange thing to say about a ship that's wrecked,' said Ben Saunders, senior marine archaeologist at Wessex Archaeology, a charity that helped community researchers conduct the investigation. 'I think if it had been found in many other places, it wouldn't necessarily have had that community drive, that desire to recover and study that material, and also the community spirit to do it,' Saunders said. Uncovered after 250 years The wreck was discovered in February 2024 after a storm swept away sand covering it on Sanday, one of the rugged Orkney Islands that lie off Scotland's northern tip. It excited interest on the island of 500 people, whose history is bound up with the sea and its dangers. Around 270 shipwrecks have been recorded around the 20-square-mile (50-square-kilometer) island since the 15th century. Local farmers used their tractors and trailers to haul the 12 tons of oak timbers off the beach, before local researchers set to work trying to identify it. 'That was really good fun, and it was such a good feeling about the community – everybody pulling together to get it back,' said Sylvia Thorne, one of the island's community researchers. 'Quite a few people are really getting interested in it and becoming experts.' Dendrochronology — the science of dating wood from tree rings — showed the timber came from southern England in the middle of the 18th century. That was one bit of luck, Saunders said, because it coincides with 'the point where British bureaucracy's really starting to kick off' and detailed records were being kept. 'And so we can then start to look at the archive evidence that we have for the wrecks in Orkney,' Saunders said. 'It becomes a process of elimination. 'You remove ones that are Northern European as opposed to British, you remove wrecks that are too small or operating out of the north of England and you really are down to two or three … and Earl of Chatham is the last one left.' Wars and whaling Further research found that before it was the Earl of Chatham, the ship was HMS Hind, a 24-gun Royal Navy frigate built in Chichester on England's south coast in 1749. Its military career saw it play a part in the expansion — and contraction — of the British Empire. It helped Britain wrest control of Canada from France during the sieges of Louisbourg and Quebec in the 1750s, and in the 1770s served as a convoy escort during Britain's failed effort to hold onto its American colonies. Sold off by the navy in 1784 and renamed, the vessel became a whaling ship, hunting the huge mammals in the Arctic waters off Greenland. Whale oil was an essential fuel of the Industrial Revolution, used to lubricate machinery, soften fabric and light city streets. Saunders said that in 1787 there were 120 London-based whaling ships in the Greenland Sea, the Earl of Chatham among them. A year later, while heading out to the whaling ground, it was wrecked in bad weather off Sanday. All 56 crew members survived — more evidence, Saunders says, that this was a vessel blessed with luck. Community effort The ship's timbers are being preserved in a freshwater tank at the Sanday Heritage Centre while plans are discussed to put it on permanent display. Saunders said that the project is a model of community involvement in archaeology. 'The community have been so keen, have been so desirous to be involved and to find out things to learn, and they're so proud of it. It's down to them it was discovered, it's down to them it was recovered and it's been stabilized and been protected,' he said. For locals, it's a link to the island's maritime past — and future. Finding long-buried wrecks could become more common as climate change alters the wind patterns around Britain and reshapes the coastline. 'One of the biggest things I've got out of this project is realizing how much the past in Sanday is just constantly with you — either visible or just under the surface,' said Ruth Peace, another community researcher.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
Stonehenge mystery is SOLVED after 5,000 years – as scientists finally crack how enigmatic boulder was transported from Wales
It's the monument that has baffled scientists for hundreds of years. But now, experts may have finally solved one of Stonehenge's greatest mysteries. Researchers have revisited the debate over the origin of the landmark's iconic bluestones – the group of smaller stones that are dotted around the site on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. They focused on a rock known as the Newall boulder, which was uncovered during excavations around a century ago. One of the main debates has been whether this rock – and other similar stones – reached the site after being transported by glaciers from Wales, or whether humans moved them more than 5,000 years ago. A team, led by Professor Richard Bevins from Aberystwyth University, compared the Newall boulder – which is about the size of a football – with samples from a rocky outcrop in Wales. Through geochemical and microscopic analysis, they concluded 'there is no evidence to support the interpretation that it is a glacial erratic'. Instead, the stone is a precise match for the unique characteristics of rocks from Craig Rhos–y–Felin – indicating humans transported the heavy boulder from more than 125 miles (200km) away. There is already evidence of stone quarrying at the site, in north Pembrokeshire, by Neolithic communities around 3000 BCE, they explained. Chemical analysis revealed that the Newall boulder and other fragments found at Stonehenge share identical levels of thorium and zirconium with the stone at Craig Rhos–y–Felin. The researchers said the Newall boulder is a foliated rhyolite and has a surface layer rich in calcium carbonate – the result of its long burial in the chalky soils at Stonehenge. This further reinforces the idea that it was brought here by humans and not glaciers, they said, because glaciers would have left a much more dispersed distribution of similar stones across the region – something that has not been found. The study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, also makes an important discovery about another of the buried stones at Stonehenge – Stone 32d. It was previously thought to be a type of rock called a spotted dolerite, but new analysis confirms it is also a foliated rhyolite – like the Newall boulder. Transporting these stones, which can weigh over three tonnes, from Wales to Stonehenge would have been an incredible feat of human logistics. 'Part of the fascination of Stonehenge is that many of its megaliths, in contrast to the large, relatively local sarsens, can be proven to have been sourced from Wales, over 200km to the west,' the researchers wrote. What are the Stonehenge bluestones? The bluestones of Stonehenge are a collection of smaller, distinctive stones that form the inner circle and horseshoe formations within the monument. They are named for the bluish tinge they exhibit when freshly broken or wet, despite not always appearing blue in their current state. These stones are not native to the Salisbury Plain area where Stonehenge is located, and are known to have been sourced from Pembrokeshire in Wales. 'Most archaeologists accept that Neolithic people achieved this remarkable feat, transporting blocks weighing up to 3.5 tonnes. 'There is, however, a contrary view, which proposed that no human effort was involved. 'Rather, it is argued, the Welsh stones were transported by glacial ice long before Stonehenge was built.' One of the main proponents of the glacier theory is geologist Dr Brian John, who has previously insisted that the Newall boulder shows glacial abrasion marks. A prior study of his concludes: 'The boulder was reduced in size and heavily modified during glacial transport, for much of the time on the bed of a glacier. 'It was eventually dumped at some location on, or relatively close to, Salisbury Plain.' As part of the new study, the researchers said these features could also be the result of natural weathering. They also said that even if the rock had been transported by ice in the past, it would not explain why similar fragments are only found at Stonehenge and not anywhere else on the Salisbury Plain. The experts said the minerologies of stone from Craig Rhos–y–Felin (left) are identical to stones from Stonehenge (right), indicating they came from the same source Their findings indicate that Dr John's arguments 'have no basis in evidence', they wrote, adding: 'To present it as fact, rather than as hypothesis, is disingenuous'. 'The presence of Stonehenge itself is the evidence of movement by Neolithic peoples of stones weighing up to as much as 40 tonnes,' they wrote. 'Unless it is argued that all the stones were just lying on the ground ready to be erected where they were to make Stonehenge, the stones must have been moved into position. 'If Neolithic people could move a stone a few tens of metres they could move it tens or hundreds of kilometres. 'It may not have been easy, but it was entirely possible and moving 2–3 tonne bluestones would involve an order of magnitude less effort than moving the sarsens.' While the large sarsen stones were only transported from West Woods in Wiltshire – roughly 32km (20 miles) away – they weighed over 20 tonnes each and stood up to seven metres tall. The famous 'Altar Stone' was even transported from Scotland around 750km (466 miles) away, a study published last year revealed. 'There is no evidence for how they moved these stones,' the researchers wrote, 'but recent indigenous peoples have been transporting stones weighing many tonnes great distances with ropes, wooden sledges and trackways – technologies which would have been available in the Neolithic.' While builders 5,000 years ago normally used whatever materials were at hand for stone circles, Stonehenge is 'exceptional' for being constructed entirely of stones brought from long distances, the team said. Researchers have previously suggested that the site may have had a political as well as a religious purpose, 'a moment of unification for the peoples of Britain, celebrating their eternal links with their ancestors and the cosmos'. The new study provides strong evidence of human transport, but the mystery of exactly why Stonehenge was built – and how – is ongoing. The team concluded: 'We reiterate our previous interpretation that the Newall boulder is not a glacial erratic, that there is no evidence of glaciation on the Salisbury Plain, and that the bluestones were transported to Stonehenge by humans and not by ice.' The Stonehenge monument standing today was the final stage of a four part building project that ended 3,500 years ago Stonehenge is one of the most prominent prehistoric monuments in Britain. The Stonehenge that can be seen today is the final stage that was completed about 3,500 years ago. According to the monument's website, Stonehenge was built in four stages: First stage: The first version of Stonehenge was a large earthwork or Henge, comprising a ditch, bank and the Aubrey holes, all probably built around 3100 BC. The Aubrey holes are round pits in the chalk, about one metre (3.3 feet) wide and deep, with steep sides and flat bottoms. They form a circle about 86.6 metres (284 feet) in diameter. Excavations revealed cremated human bones in some of the chalk filling, but the holes themselves were likely not made to be used as graves, but as part of a religious ceremony. After this first stage, Stonehenge was abandoned and left untouched for more than 1,000 years. Second stage: The second and most dramatic stage of Stonehenge started around 2150 years BC, when about 82 bluestones from the Preseli mountains in south-west Wales were transported to the site. It's thought that the stones, some of which weigh four tonnes each, were dragged on rollers and sledges to the waters at Milford Haven, where they were loaded onto rafts. They were carried on water along the south coast of Wales and up the rivers Avon and Frome, before being dragged overland again near Warminster and Wiltshire. The final stage of the journey was mainly by water, down the river Wylye to Salisbury, then the Salisbury Avon to west Amesbury. The journey spanned nearly 240 miles, and once at the site, the stones were set up in the centre to form an incomplete double circle. During the same period, the original entrance was widened and a pair of Heel Stones were erected. The nearer part of the Avenue, connecting Stonehenge with the River Avon, was built aligned with the midsummer sunrise. Third stage: The third stage of Stonehenge, which took place about 2000 years BC, saw the arrival of the sarsen stones (a type of sandstone), which were larger than the bluestones. They were likely brought from the Marlborough Downs (40 kilometres, or 25 miles, north of Stonehenge). The largest of the sarsen stones transported to Stonehenge weighs 50 tonnes, and transportation by water would not have been possible, so it's suspected that they were transported using sledges and ropes. Calculations have shown that it would have taken 500 men using leather ropes to pull one stone, with an extra 100 men needed to lay the rollers in front of the sledge. These stones were arranged in an outer circle with a continuous run of lintels - horizontal supports. Inside the circle, five trilithons - structures consisting of two upright stones and a third across the top as a lintel - were placed in a horseshoe arrangement, which can still be seen today. Final stage: The fourth and final stage took place just after 1500 years BC, when the smaller bluestones were rearranged in the horseshoe and circle that can be seen today. The original number of stones in the bluestone circle was probably around 60, but these have since been removed or broken up. Some remain as stumps below ground level.
