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Ancient Egyptian Cheese Entombed

Yithian

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A substance found by archaeologists working in an Ancient Egyptian tomb has proved to be one of the oldest cheeses ever discovered.

Several years ago, the team discovered broken jars in the tomb of Ptahmes, a high-ranking Egyptian official.

The archaeologists found a "solidified whitish mass" in one of the jars which they suspected was food but were unsure which kind.

Now a study has identified it as cheese, dating from 3,200 years ago.

The discovery is significant as there has been no previous evidence of Ancient Egyptian cheese production, authors of the report, published in the journal Analytical Chemistry, said.

"The material analysed is probably the most ancient archaeological solid residue of cheese ever found to date," said Dr Enrico Greco, from the University of Catania, who worked with colleagues at the Cairo University in Egypt to determine its identity.

"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."

Full Article:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45233347

From The Academic Paper:

The material analyzed in this study is probably the most ancient archeological solid residue of cheese ever found to date. The sample was collected during the Saqqara Cairo University excavations in the tomb of Ptahmes dated to XIX dynasty. [...]

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.analchem.8b02535
 
It's pretty much turned to chalk.
 
The discovery is significant as there has been no previous evidence of Ancient Egyptian cheese production, authors of the report, published in the journal Analytical Chemistry, said.

This passage appears to be poorly stated or maybe even false ...

According to this blog page:

HISTORY OF CHEESE IN ANCIENT EGYPT
https://stravaganzastravaganza.blogspot.com/2016/09/history-of-cheese-in-ancient-egypt.html

Food substances believed to be cheese had been found in 2 tombs excavated in the first half of the 20th century, and one of these finds was claimed to have been identified as cheese in 1942.

I can't tell whether this new paper is referring to either of these two earlier discoveries.

Maybe the 1942 identification was tentative, and this more recent research finally confirms it once and for all.
 
Was there any pickle?

He ate the cheese.

pickles_2182265b.jpg
 
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