Ok folcs... About the pasta/noodle thing... calm down, archaeologist here.
Here's how it goes. You get some grass seeds, hit them with a big stone until they're powder, mix them with something to bind them (egg/water/milk/I don't know I buy mine in a packet), make the mix into shapes, then drop them in a pan of boiling water.
It's not exactly rocket science, or baked alaska. Probably eaten way before 1200-whenever, the world over (Sorry El).
The technical term is independant invention. The idea that two people (or more) can come up with the same idea in different places, even in different times, without coming into contact with each other.
Don't ask me about the lingustics of the pasta/noodle stuff though... I call it pasta unless it says noodles on the packet, in which case I use it in stir-fry.
Helga
Knowledge is knowing that tomatoes are a fruit.
Intelligence is not putting them in a fruit salad.
