Mummified breads 80 years ago are discovered in Bahia – 07/20/2023 – Science

Mummified bread was found in the interior of Bahia in an archaeological site that reveals the history of the region with the Second World War. The discovery was made by researchers from the State University of Bahia (Uneb), who are going to publish the results of the study in the coming months, in a book.

Mapping the region, archaeologist Gilmar D’Oliveira, 38, who has been studying rock painting sites in Campo Formoso since 2007, found a site with ceramics, china and glassware in 2015.

The new site located in the municipality, which is 406 km from Salvador and has another 26 in the National Registry of Archaeological Sites of Iphan (National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage), was an old quartz mine that operated in the region until 1942.

Miners supplied crystals to the United States, of which Brazil was an ally during World War II. The material served as raw material for the production of radio-communicators during the war.

“It was a surprise. We didn’t expect the existence of a mine in the region, because normally our research finds colonial sites. But one person spoke about a mine and that was the spark to start the research. I have no words to describe this find”, says D’Oliveira.

The excavation of the area was carried out in 2016. Two loaves of bread were found, one whole and the other half. The findings were under the rubble of an area that was defined by the researchers as the community bakery, the only brick building in the area.

Research coordinator Cristiana Santana, 57, said that the breads were preserved through a natural mummification process based on dehydration. Studies point out that the food was burned in the oven and discarded inside the ashes, which have the capacity to dissect and, thus, preserved the material during the eight decades.

“It is a rare event. What is common in the rest of the food is that it decomposes. Some traces of food can be preserved, but they are usually seeds. A structure like a bread, which is an extremely soft thing that decomposes very easily, has never been found in archeology in Brazil”, he says.

The researcher recalls that another discovery like this was only made in Germany, when a hazelnut and almond cake was found in 2021, also dating from the Second World War period.

The breads found in the sertaneja excavation are similar to the “basket breads” or “foot breads”, typical in the region. But the researchers explain that these are smaller, as the mummification process by dehydration reduces their volume.

Archaeologist Joyce Santana, 38, was the one who excavated the area and found the loaves, but she did not know at first about the importance of the discovery. “Excavating the Garimpo Prateado was super different. When we discovered the bread, we found something different because we had never seen it, despite working with fossil remains, but it was only when we went to the laboratory and went to interpret the site that it gained strength and today we have the fruits of the research.”

All the material from the mining was taken to the Archeology and Paleontology Laboratory at Uneb Campus VII, in Senhor do Bonfim (BA). The breads are conserved in an environment similar to the one found. They were stored with ashes and debris to prevent their decomposition.

Next to the old bakery, a cemetery was also identified. The site has no tombstones, but terrain features such as undulations indicate caves. The research coordinator says that the excavation of this other sector of the site is not recommended yet. “This is only 80 years old, and we don’t know if there are still microorganisms present.”

The memories of Garimpo Prateado —which had its activities interrupted by an outbreak of meningitis that killed dozens of men— were recorded in the first phase of the research, when interviews were carried out with the oldest people in the region.

Two miners who worked in the Campo Formoso mine were found and gave details of life in the place, where the houses were made of straw and there was no sanitary structure, which favored the outbreak of the disease.

After the end of mining activities, the men went back to work in the region’s swiddens, raising herds of goats. The artifacts collected by the research and the popular memory are the only records of this history that took place in the Sertão of Bahia.