4,000-Year Old Noodles Found in China

By Deborah Lambeth

During a recent archeological dig in the province of Qinghai, scientists were surprised and excited when they came upon a 4,000-year old bowl of delicate yellow noodles.

According to the archaeologists, many years ago there was a sudden flood following an earthquake. Skeletons and bones found at the site indicated that there was not any way for the residents to escape the horrific flooding. In addition to the bones being found, they also discovered a bowl of noodles. The bowl was found under 10 feet of sediment from a flood that researchers say wiped out the Qiijia culture. On top of the bowl the sediment had formed a vacuum, of sorts, that had sealed the bowl, thus preserving the 20-inch long noodles.

By examining the shape and patterns of the grains in the bowl, it was determined that the noodles were made from two local kinds of millet—foxtail and broomcorn. According to researchers, the noodles resemble the La-Mian noodle that is made by hand, where the dough is repeatedly pulled and stretched. They went on to say that their data "demonstrates the noodles were initially made from domesticated grasses native to China."

There is some dispute over who developed the idea of mixing flour and water to create noodles. The Italians, the Chinese, and even the Arabs all claim to have the first rights, so to speak, to being the "inventers of noodles." However, this recent find indicates that the Chinese are the winners who have "squatters rights." According to Lu Houyan, a researcher with the Institute of Geology in Beijing, when they analyzed the noodles, they "identified millet as the source of the abundant seed-husk phytoliths and starch grains present in the vessel. This shows that the conversion of ground millet flour into dough that could be repeatedly stretched into long, thin strands for the preparation of boiled noodles was already established in this region 4,000 years ago."

Historically, people said that Marco Polo brought noodles to Italy from his excursions to China. Consequently, Italians claimed they were the first to create noodles. All of this information was based on antique menus, personal accounts, and other documents. But now, because of the "Qinghai noodle find," the Chinese can now disprove the territorial argument and claim their rightful status as the first inventors of noodles.