发现四千年前的粟米面条

Archeologists in northwest China have found the remains of a bowl of millet noodles prepared about 4,000 years ago. The find bolsters the theory that millet was one of the first domesticated plants.

The 4,000-year-old noodles are so well-preserved, they almost look edible.

考古学家在中国西北找到了一碗4000年前的粟米面条遗存。面条保存完好，看上去好象还可以食用。这一发现支持了粟是最早被驯化的植物之一的观点。

消息出处：http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4957805

　

这一消息的依据是：Nature 437, 967-968 (13 October 2005)


Nature 437, 967-968 (13 October 2005)

a, Noodles dating to 4,000 years ago, shown here on top of an in-filled sediment cone and revealed after the inverted earthenware bowl containing them was removed. Scale bar, 1 cm. b, Dendriform-1 husk phytoliths (left) from the noodle sample compared with husks from the modern millet Panicum miliaceum (right). c, Dendriform-2 husk phytoliths from the noodles (left) compared with husks from the modern millet Setaria italica (right); the dendriform-2 type mostly occurred at the lemma end of S. italica. d, Polarized-light (left) and light micrographs (right) of starch grains from the prehistoric noodles. Although the lamellae characteristics of noodle starch were mostly lost as a result of gelatinization during cooking, their size and cross-shaped birefringence under polarized light are similar to those of starch from the millets S. italica and P. miliaceum. Scale bar, 20 m for b, c, and d.