World’s Oldest Cheese Found On 3,600-Year-Old Chinese Mummies Made With ‘Ancient Technology’

Archaeologists have unearthed what they believe to be the world’s oldest cheese. The astonishingly well-preserved cheese was buried beneath China's Taklamakan Desert some 3,600 years ago and was affixed to the chests and necks of ancient Chinese mummies – a yummy snack for the dead to nibble on during their journey into the afterlife.

When archaeologists began to excavate the Bronze Age cemetery, they found 200 or so mummies. The mummies, still wearing the clothes they were buried in, were entombed in upside-down boats and covered in cowhide. Their graves were adorned with large, 13-foot-tall wooden poles with flat blades painted black and red. According to the New York Times, archaeologists believe the polls were mostly phallic symbols.

Attached to the mummies’ necks and chests were chunks of yellow cheese measuring 0.4 to 0.8 inches in diameter. The mummies and their cheese didn’t decay because of the conditions at the burial site. Live Science reports that the dry air and salty soil kept the mummies and the ancient cheese well preserved for thousands of years.

[link to www.ibtimes.com]