Ovelgönne Bread Roll

The Ovelgönne Bread Roll is the remaining part of a bread roll originating from the Pre-Roman Iron Age of Northern Europe, which was found in 1952 during archaeological excavations in a loam mine in the Buxtehude district Ovelgönne in Lower Saxony, Germany. The piece of bread is the oldest surviving viennoiserie and formed bakery product from Europe. The find, along with a reconstruction, are in the permanent exhibition of the Archaeological Museum Hamburg in Harburg, Hamburg.

In May 1952 one of Helms-Museums staff, Willi Rühland, discovered a dark discoloration in a freshly cut clay wall on the north side of the municipal loam mine of Ovelgönne at 53°26′50″N 9°44′20″E / 53.447161°N 9.739006°E / 53.447161; 9.739006Coordinates: 53°26′50″N 9°44′20″E / 53.447161°N 9.739006°E / 53.447161; 9.739006. The irregular pit had a depth of 150 centimetres (59 in) and a width of 150 centimetres (59 in). The backfilling of the pit was irregularly mixed up with shards of pottery pieces of charcoal, lumps of clay and stones, suggesting an Iron Age rubbish pit. Half down the pit, the remains of the charred bread was found.