Italians are known for them and (36) suggest they may have originated in the Middle East but (37) said Wednesday the world’s oldest known noodles, dating back 4,000 years, were made in China. "Our discovery (38) that noodles were first produced in China about-4,000 years ago," Lu Hou Yuan from the Chinese Academy of Science said in an interview. The noodles were (39) in an overturned, sealed bowl in an archaeological site near the Yellow River in north west China. Until the (40) , reported in the science journal Nature, the (41) writ ten account of noodles was in a book written during the East Han (42) in China sometime between 25 and 220. "This is the (43) evidence of noodles ever found," said Lu. (44) The scientists think a large earthquake and catastrophic flooding probably destroyed the ancient settlement where they were discovered. (45) Wheat was not introduced from central and western Asia to north west China until about 5,000 years ago. Prehistoric farmers knew hot to pound and grind the hard millet seeds and mix them to make noodles. The dough was probably repeatedly stretched by hand to form long strands and cooked in boiling water to make noodles, according to the researchers. (46) Lu said.