The Discovery of the Oldest Known Cheese in an Ancient Chinese Tomb

The excavated coffin of a woman from the Bronze Age in northwestern China proved to be a historic culinary marvel as it was found to contain the oldest known cheese. Unearthed two decades ago, this 3,600-year-old coffin revealed a mysterious substance, which was found reclining on the woman's neck in a fashion mimicking jewelery. The object has now been identified as cheese and renowned paleogeneticist, Fu Qiaomei, deems it to be "the oldest cheese ever found."

According to Fu, a co-author of the research and a scientific voice at the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, typical cheese is rather soft, but this ancient form of cheese had turned into a dense, hard dust due to the passage of time. This particularly intriguing discovery was made amidst the archaeological overhaul of the Xiaohe Cemetery in 2003. Remarkably, the arid climate of the Tarim Basin desert provided favorable conditions for the preservation of the encased woman, her boots, hat, and the invaluable cheese relic.

The primitive practice of burying individuals with items of great personal or societal significance is a common trait across various cultures. In the context of this discovery, the cheese fragments buried alongside the woman's body were an underscored testament to the relevancy of cheese in their lives. This fascinating fondness for cheese is not a recent development, with Egyptian tomb murals from 2000 BC and European sites dating back almost 7,000 years showcasing the cheese-making process.

The cheese samples studied by Fu and her team emerged as the oldest physical remnants of cheese known to humanity. As part of the research, samples from three tombs were tested, and the extracted DNA was processed to map the evolutionary journey of associated bacteria. The samples were positively identified as kefir cheese, an ancient cheese variant fermented with kefir grains and dairy, including nods to the usage of goat and cow milk.

While the Bronze Age group native to Xiaohe were genetically lactose-intolerant, they consumed dairy, hinting at the early adaptation to cheese production given its low lactose content. An added revelation from this research includes the tracing of the kefir tradition across geographical boundaries – from the northern Caucasus of modern Russia to Europe and right up to interior Asia. Miles of journey through regions such as present-day Xinjiang and Tibet truly affirm how mingling Bronze Age populations influenced the spread of kefir.

Pursuing this mysterious cheese led the team to trace the evolutionary resistance of bacteria across several millennia, with ever-increasing adaptability towards human immune responses and impressive medical resistance. Surprisingly, the same bacterial strains also indicative of a symbiotic relationship beneficially impacting human immune health.

When asked if she would dare to taste such an ancient and unique portion of kefir cheese, Fu Qiaomei confidently responded, "No way!"