At the time it was found with these bits stuck to the head and neck, tiny fragments that look like rocks. However, back in 2014, they were actually theorized as being cheese. Now it has been confirmed.
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00:00This is a mummy that was exhumed from a Chinese cemetery back in the 90s.
00:08At the time it was found with these bits stuck to its head and neck, tiny fragments that
00:11look like rocks.
00:12However, back in 2014 they were actually theorized as being cheese.
00:17Now that theory has been confirmed, with a DNA analysis of the samples revealing they
00:21are indeed 3600-year-old cheese.
00:24The researchers say they have found both cow and goat DNA amongst the samples.
00:29They say it's a type of fermented kefir cheese from the Bronze Age, with paleontologists
00:33saying this is the oldest known cheese sample ever discovered in the world.
00:38They add that this find is significant because food products are often extremely difficult
00:42to preserve, especially over thousands of years, giving researchers a rare opportunity
00:47to examine food preparation methods of ancient times.
00:50In fact, they identified the specific strain of bacteria used to produce this cheese came
00:54from Tibet, with the study's authors adding,
00:57This is an unprecedented study, allowing us to observe how a bacterium evolved over
01:02the past 3,000 years.