China: The birthplace of the noodle

Like many discoveries of ancient artifacts, archeologists have found evidence of 4000 year old noodes in China, buried uneaten in an overturned, sealed bowl.

A bowl of Neolithic noodles has revealed that China was the most likely birthplace of this popular food...Now a sealed earthenware bowl of beautifully preserved, thin yellow noodles about 4,000 years old has been found by Dr Houyuan Lu, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with colleagues in Beijing and Louisiana....The meal has probably left untouched because of an ancient disaster: the site harbours a settlement that was probably destroyed about 4,000 years ago by a major earthquake and flood.

Apparently, this has excited the researchers because this seems to settle the question as to who invented the noodle: the Chinese, the Arabs, or the Italians. Score one for China.