The carbonised artifact demonstrates the preparation of panis quadratus, an ancient Roman bread style scored into wedges before baking. Such loaves frequently received rectangular stamps, a practice that likely distinguished individual household dough in busy communal ovens. Alongside these staple loaves, archaeologists in Herculaneum also uncovered smaller flatbreads decorated with geometric and plant motifs. Modern fascination with the find even led the British Museum and chef Giorgio Locatelli to reverse-engineer the recipe.
Key points
Roman bakers scored loaves into six or eight wedges to facilitate portioning for consumer…: Roman bakers scored loaves into six or eight wedges to facilitate portioning for consumers.
Baker marks were pressed into raw dough to maintain household ownership inside shared com…: Baker marks were pressed into raw dough to maintain household ownership inside shared community ovens.
Modern culinary recreations of the ancient bread utilized sourdough starter, specialized…: Modern culinary recreations of the ancient bread utilized sourdough starter, specialized flours, and string to shape the dough.
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When Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, a loaf of bread was still inside an oven in the Roman town of Herculaneum. The eruption buried the town, leaving the bread trapped beneath volcanic material. Nearly 2,000 years later, archaeologists found the loaf during excavations in 1930. Although it had turned black and become carbonised, the bread had survived, giving researchers a rare opportunity to examine food prepared by people living in ancient Rome.
The discovery offered something that written records alone could not provide. It was an actual piece of food from the period, recovered from the place where it had been baked.
The British Museum brought attention to the loaf during an exhibition on Pompeii and Herculaneum in 2013. The museum also invited Italian chef Giorgio Locatelli to prepare a version of the ancient bread. He recreated it in his London kitchen, following a recipe intended to reproduce the appearance of Roman loaves. The museum later shared the recipe and a video of the preparation process in July 2020.
Information from Italy's Herculaneum Archaeological Park provides further details about…
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