'Most ancient' solid cheese found in dug up Egyptian jar

Menna Zaki, Associated Press
Updated 2:50 pm CDT, Friday, August 17, 2018



Photo: DEA / A. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images
IMAGE 1 OF 20 The stepped pyramid at Saqqara, Memphis, Egypt. For thousands of years beneath Egypt's desert sands a solidified whitish substance sat in a broken jar. Scientists now say it's "probably the most ancient archaeological solid residue of cheese ever found."


CAIRO (AP) — For thousands of years beneath Egypt's desert sands a solidified whitish substance sat in a broken jar. Scientists now say it's "probably the most ancient archaeological solid residue of cheese ever found."

Archaeologists came across the finding while cleaning the sands around a 19th dynasty tomb at the vast Saqqara necropolis of the ancient city of Memphis. The tomb of Ptahmes, the mayor of ancient Memphis, was initially discovered in 1885 but had been swallowed by shifting sands until its rediscovery in 2010.

The whitish solidified mass was found during the excavation work between 2013 and 2014, along with a canvas fabric which may have been used to cover the jar, possibly to preserve its contents, a study published this week in Analytical Chemistry said. The 3,200-year-old cheese was found to be made from a mixture of cow milk and that of a sheep or goat.

"It (the sample) was subjected to thousands of cycles of hydration and de-hydration due to the rainfalls and the Nile floods and also the very strong alkaline environment transformed all the fats and it was not possible to use conventional techniques," Enrico Greco, the study's lead author, said.

More:
https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Substance-in-dug-up-Egyptian-jar-most-ancient-13163270.php