Posted By Ron Bechtol on Fri, Feb 5, 2021 at 9:00 AM click to enlarge Ron Bechtol The next time you slurp a noodle, pause to ponder this: its history stretches back at least 4,000 years — which makes the association of noodles with long life in the celebration of Chinese New Year doubly meaningful. According to archaeologists who uncovered evidence of prehistoric pasta at a site in northwest China, noodles made of millet had improbably been preserved in an upturned bowl in the debris of a giant earthquake. “Thin, delicate and yellow, they resembled the traditional La-Mian noodle that is made by repeatedly pulling and stretching the dough by hand,” a scientist involved in the excavation told The Guardian.