During the first century in the ancient Near East, the flour used for daily bread-making was primarily derived from primitive wheat varieties such as emmer and einkorn, alongside locally grown barley. Ancient milling technology relied heavily on stone hand mills or saddle querns, where grain was ground manually by women or servants into a coarse, unrefined meal that retained the nutrient-rich bran and germ layers. Because industrial sifting technology did not exist, this ancient flour produced dense, dark, and textured loaves of bread that served as the primary caloric staple of the diet for virtually all socioeconomic classes throughout Judea and Galilee during that historical era.