World’s oldest cheese found in Egyptian tomb and it’s older than Jesus
The cheese found in the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis was made with cows' milk mixed with either that of sheep or goats
SCIENTISTS have discovered what they say is the world’s oldest cheese, hidden in a 3,200 year old Egyptian tomb
The solidified whitish substance was found in an ancient jar and was made from a mixture of cow milk along that of a sheep or goat.
In a study published this week, scientists say they have discovered that “probably the most ancient archaeological solid residue of cheese ever found”.
The cheese was buried in the 19th dynasty tomb of the Ptahmes, mayor of the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis.
“The sample was wrapped with a canvas into a broken jar,” said lead author Enrico Greco, from Italy’s University of Catania
“The archaeologists suspected it was a kind of food left for the owner of the tomb and they decided to ask for chemical analyses.
“There are several examples in mural paintings with barter scenes where cheese was represented and certainly it was used in the Egyptian medicine during the Ptolemaic period.
“But until now we were not sure whether it was really part of the daily life of the ancient Egyptians.”
The team are, however, not sure what the ancient cheese tasted like.
“We do not have much information on what the taste could be, we know it was made mostly from sheep’s and goat’s milk, but for me it’s really hard to imagine a specific flavour,” Dr Greco said.
“I’m Italian, I love cheese and I know how much they can change in flavour and appearance even with very few differences in ingredients and process.”
The cheese sample was excavated at the Saqqara necropolis near Cairo between 2013 and 2014.
The findings were published in the journal Analytical Chemistry this week.
Scientists also found cheese contained bacteria potentially causing the deadly disease brucellosis, caught by eating unpasteurized dairy products.
If confirmed, it would be “the first biomolecular direct evidence” of the disease’s existence during the pharaonic period, according to the study.
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