Component and simulation of the 4,000-year-old noodles excavated from the archaeological site of Lajia in Qinghai,China

Noodles are a global food, but the periods when and places where they were made and originated, as well as their ingredients and the cooking methods used to manufacture them, have remained contentious. In the 2005 edition of the journal Nature, we wrote a summary of the millet noodle specimens found in the Late Neolithic Qijia cultural stratum of the Lajia archaeological site in Qinghai Province, China. However, how the ancient people made millet noodles remains controversial. This paper provides a systematic analysis of the remains of noodles found within an earthenware bowl at the Lajia “noodle house” in terms of their plant composition including phytoliths, starch and biomarkers. It provides evidence of how people used millet 4,000 years ago and, most specifically, of the principal methods used for producing millet-based noodles. Further, we show how we used traditional hele tools to make hele millet noodles, with especial reference to the gelatinized hydrogel-forming method, to simulate morphology consistent with the composition and form of the unearthed millet noodles. The results of this study provide new evidence and new insights into the cultural characteristics of the prehistoric human diet.