Ancient wheat process of milling

It is generally believed that wheat had its origins in the regions of the ancient Eastern region of Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Levant, around 7000 B.C, although it had likely been gathered as a wild grain much earlier.

The grain was placed in a large saucer-shaped stone, a smaller rounded stone was used to crush it. Saddle querns seem to be the most common cereal grinding tools through all prehistory and early history of Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean.

The process of milling wheat into flour was revolutionized around 800 BC in Mesopotamia, when animal, water and wind power were harnessed for the first time to run the large stones used for grinding.

These mills were often constructed using good quality stones, the grinding process could have been repeated several times and finally flour was sieved.

In ancient Rome the mill and the bakery were the very same enterprise. The grains were milled and worked up without delay to dough and bread.

In the Middle Ages the milling of four became the monopoly of a few professional millers who were granted this concession by the wealthy landholders who built the large mills.

The first wind-powered mills were built in England in the 11th century, and in Belgium Luxemburg and the Netherlands in the 12th century.
Ancient wheat process of milling

History of flaxseed

The Latin name of the flaxseed is Linum usitatissimum, which means “very useful”. Early records show that it has been grown since the beginning of civilization, and people all over the world have celebrated its usefulness throughout the ages.

Flaxseed, of Mesopotamic origin, has been cultivated since 5000 BC. It used in Egypt to wrap mummies while Jewish high priests of the Old Testament wore garments made from flax.

History also reveals that Babylonians cultivated flaxseed as early as 3000 B.C. and their burial chambers depict flax cultivation and clothing from flax fibers.

It also was being used until the 1990s principally for the fabrication of cloths and papers. Flax was first introduced in United States by colonists, primarily to produce fiber for clothing.

Before World War II flaxseed had been commonly used as food and it was forgotten until its comeback in the 1990s.
History of flaxseed

Ancient Mesopotamia and wheat

The appearance of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent has propelled the development of Western civilization. The most important crops in Mesopotamia were wheat and barley. Farmers also grew dates, grapes, figs, melons, and apples.

The Sumerian word for wheat was “she-lib-ba,” a word meaning “the dark grain.” During the 6th millennium BC, emmer wheat was largely cultivated in the plains of Mesopotamia and western Anatolia. It reached Turkmenistan by the middle of the 6th millennium BC when early farming villages were established in the northern foothills of the Kopet Dagh Mountains.

The inhabitants of the land between the Tigris and Euphrates used mainly barley and emmer, a type of wheat, to brew their beer. Emmer wheat and also barley played a very important cultural role. In Mesopotamia “bread and beer” was the phrase corresponding to current society as “bread and water.” By the time writing was invented in Mesopotamia, brewing was already a well-established technology.

Emmer wheat is one of the three hulled wheats known in Italy as farro. It is a low yielding, awned wheat. It was one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East. It was widely cultivated in the ancient world.
Ancient Mesopotamia and wheat