Italians are known for them and (36)
suggest they may have originated in the Middle East but (37)
said Wednesday the world’s oldest known noodles, dating back 4, 000
years, were made in China. "Our discovery (38)
that noodles were first produced in China about 4, 000 years ago," Lu
Hou Yuan from the Chinese Academy of Science said in an interview.
The noodles were (39) in an overturned, sealed bowl in
an archaeological site near the Yellow River in north west China.
Until the (40) , reported in the science journal
Nature, the (41) written account of noodles was in a book
written during the East Han (42) in China sometime between 25
and 220. "This is the (43) evidence of
noodles ever found," said Lu. (44) . The
scientists think a large earthquake and catastrophic flooding probably destroyed
the ancient settlement where they were discovered.
(45) . Wheat was not introduced from central and western Asia to
north west China until about 5, 000 years ago. Prehistoric
farmers knew how to pound and grind the hard millet seeds and mix them to make
noodles. The dough was probably repeatedly stretched by hand to form long
strands and cooked in boiling water to make noodles, according to the
researchers. (46) Lu said.