FLOUR

Before agriculture, before civilization even, there was flour. The common denominator to many baked goods is a 35,000-year-old ingredient in the making. Hidden within the Italian Grotta Paglicci, home of famous paleolithic cave paintings, scientists found a smooth stone used for one spectacular purpose: grinding grains to make flour. What the rudimentary flour was used to createflatbread? porridge? paste?—is still up for speculation, but it confirmed that flour was