World's oldest cheese on mummies

[Evo]

Two hundred mummies, 4,000 year old Europeans found in China. The accidental mumification is astounding.

Plenty of cheeses get better with age, but crumbs discovered on the necks and chests of Chinese mummies are now thought to be the world’s oldest vintage - although their taste may be questionable.

The cheese dates back to 1,615BC and was essentially vacuum-packed with the bodies of the mysterious Bronze Age people who were buried in the Taklamakan Desert, making it the oldest ever recovered.

While the strange discovery was made in the 1930s, scientists have only just analysed the proteins and fats in the clumps of 3,600-year-old food to reveal its age and ascertain that it is not butter or milk.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...0-year-old-Chinese-MUMMIES.html#ixzz3KFhAX4eL

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ed-chests-3-500-year-old-Chinese-MUMMIES.html

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In the middle of a terrifying desert north of Tibet, Chinese archaeologists have excavated an extraordinary cemetery. Its inhabitants died almost 4,000 years ago, yet their bodies have been well preserved by the dry air.

The cemetery lies in what is now China’s northwest autonomous region of Xinjiang, yet the people have European features, with brown hair and long noses. Their remains, though lying in one of the world’s largest deserts, are buried in upside-down boats. And where tombstones might stand, declaring pious hope for some god’s mercy in the afterlife, their cemetery sports instead a vigorous forest of phallic symbols, signaling an intense interest in the pleasures or utility of procreation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/science/16archeo.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

How can it be cheese if it's not milk based? If it is cheese... anyone got some crackers?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Wow, this is truly fascinating! It's amazing how well-preserved these bodies and their belongings are after thousands of years. I can't even imagine the taste of this 3,600-year-old cheese, but it's incredible that it's still intact. It's also interesting to see the European features of these ancient Chinese people. I wonder what their story was and how they ended up in this desert cemetery. The phallic symbols are definitely a unique aspect of their burial practices. Thanks for sharing this article!