Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS FEATURE

How ancient people fell in love with bread, beer and other carbs

Well before people domesticated crops, they were grinding grains for hearty stews and other starchy dishes.
  1. Andrew Curry

    1. Andrew Curry is a science journalist in Berlin.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Pillars and sunken steps make up the ruins of the Göbekli Tepe archaeological site, Turkey.

Grains were on the menu at feasts that took place more than 11,000 years ago at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey — one of the world’s oldest temples. Credit: Vincent J. Musi

On a clear day, the view from the ruins of Göbekli Tepe stretches across southern Turkey all the way to the Syrian border some 50 kilometres away. At 11,600 years old, this mountaintop archaeological site has been described as the world’s oldest temple — so ancient, in fact, that its T-shaped pillars and circular enclosures pre-date pottery in the Middle East.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 594, 488-491 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01681-w

References

  1. Dietrich, L. et al. PLoS ONE 14, e0215214 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Heun, M. et al. Science 278, 1312–1314 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Valamoti, S. M. Veget. Hist. Archaeobot. 11, 17–22 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Valamoti, S. M. et al. J. Archaeol. Sci. 128, 105347 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Inchley, C. E. et al. Sci. Rep. 6, 37198 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Larbey, C., Mentzer, S. M., Ligouis, B., Wurz, S. & Jones, M. K. J. Hum. Evol. 131, 210–227 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Henry, A. G., Brooks, A. S. & Piperno, D. R. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 108, 486–491 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Fellows Yates, J. A. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 118, e2021655118 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Heiss, A. G. et al. PLoS ONE 15, e0231696 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Arranz-Otaegui, A., Gonzalez Carretero, L., Ramsey, M. N., Fuller, D. Q. & Richter, T. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 115, 7925–7930 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Dietrich, L. & Haibt, M. J. Archaeol. Sci. Rep. 33, 102525 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Dietrich, L. et al. J. Archaeol. Sci. Rep. 34, 102618 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links