ASIA, CHINA, WORLD

World’s oldest cheese found in necklaces on 3600-year-old mummies in China

World’s oldest cheese found in necklaces on 3600-year-old mummies in China

World’s oldest cheese found in necklaces on 3600-year-old mummies in China

A mysterious white substance about 20 years ago found on Bronze Age mummies in western China has proven to be the world’s oldest  cheese.

Researchers discovered three ancient mummies in Xinjiang in northwestern China. When the 3,600-year-old coffin of a young woman was excavated, archeologists discovered a mysterious substance laid out along her neck like a piece of jewelry.  It was made of cheese, and scientists now say it’s the oldest cheese ever found.

Scientists have successfully extracted DNA from a 3,600-year-old cheese. Identified as kefir cheese, the discovery provides new insights into the origins of kefir and the development of probiotic bacteria.

It has been long suspected that the substance may have had a fermented dairy origin, but only now have molecular tools become powerful enough to confirm their make-up.

Qiaomei Fu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and her colleagues have identified the substance as a type of kefir cheese based on the presence of lactic acid bacteria, yeast, and proteins from ruminant  milk in the samples.

“This is the oldest known cheese sample ever discovered in the world,” says co-author Qiaomei Fu, a paleogeneticist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in a statement from the journal Cell.

 “Food items like cheese are extremely difficult to preserve over thousands of years, making this a rare and valuable opportunity. Studying the ancient cheese in great detail can help us better understand our ancestors’ diet and culture.”

Examples of the 3,600-year-old kefir cheese found on the mummies. Credit: Y, Liu et al., Cell, 2024

Since the woman’s coffin was covered and buried in the dry climate of the Tarim Basin desert, Fu said, it was well preserved, as were her boots, hat, and the cheese that laced her body.

Ancient burial practices often included items of significance to the person buried alongside them. The fact that those items included chunks of kefir cheese alongside the body showed that “cheese was important for their life,” she added.

The cheesy bits are, in fact, pieces of kefir cheese, a dried and fermented dairy product made with the same type of bacteria, yeast, and fungal complex as modern kefir, which is typically consumed as a sour liquid akin to thin yogurt, according to genetic analysis of the microbes within. Instead of using rennet, which is frequently used in the production of cheese in Europe, kefir granules ferment the milk.

The latest research also reveals that the necklaces included at least two different kinds of cheese, one made from goat milk—more precisely, from a kind of goat that was common in Bronze Age Eurasia—and the other from cow’s milk.

Additionally, the kefir granules have genetic signatures that are quite similar to those of some East Asian kefir strains and contemporary Tibetan dairy products. Microbes from the Caucasus region, which has long been believed to be the birthplace of dairy, are more closely related to other strains from East Asia, Europe, and the Pacific Islands.

Altogether, the analysis points to two different geographic origins of kefir-making: one in Xinjiang and one in the Caucasus, says Qiaomei Fu. “Our observation strongly suggests the distinct spreading routes of two [kefir microbe] subspecies,” Fu tells Popular Science, which she adds is likely the result of wide-ranging nomadic groups traveling across the dry grassland of Eurasia.

The evolution of human activities spanning thousands of years also affected microbial evolution, the study found, citing the divergence of a bacterial subspecies that was found to have been facilitated by the spread of kefir across different populations.

ASIA, WORLD

7,000 years ago the earliest evidence for the cultivation of a fruit tree came from the Jordan valley

7,000 years ago the earliest evidence for the cultivation of a fruit tree came from the Jordan valley

7,000 years ago the earliest evidence for the cultivation of a fruit tree came from the Jordan valley

Tel Aviv University and Jerusalem’s Hebrew University researchers have unraveled the earliest evidence for the domestication of a fruit tree.

According to the researchers, the first domestication of fruit trees anywhere in the world took place in the Jordan Valley about 7,000 years ago.

Analyzing remnants of charcoal from the Chalcolithic site of Tel Tsaf in the Jordan Valley, researchers determined they came from olive trees. Since olive trees did not grow naturally in the Jordan Valley, this means the inhabitants of the site must have planted the trees intentionally about 7,000 years ago, said the researchers.

The study was led by Dr. Dafna Langgut of the Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology & Ancient Near Eastern Cultures and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University.

The charcoal remnants were found in the archaeological excavation directed by Professor Yosef Garfinkel of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University. The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

7,000 years-old microscopic remains of charred olive wood (Olea) recovered from Tel Tsaf. Photo: Dr. Dafna Langgut

Dr. Dafna Langgut, head of Tel Aviv’s Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Ancient Environments, which specializes in microscopic identification of plant remains, said it was possible to identify trees by their anatomic structure even if they had been burned down to charcoal.

“Wood was the ‘plastic’ of the ancient world,” said Dr. Dafna Langgut.

“It was used for construction, for making tools and furniture, and as a source of energy. That’s why identifying tree remnants found at archaeological sites, such as charcoal from hearths, is a key to understanding what kinds of trees grew in the natural environment at the time, and when humans began to cultivate fruit trees.”

Langgut’s analysis of the charcoal from Tel Tsaf found locally native trees, but also olive and fig.

Buildings and rounded siloes at the village of Tel Tsaf. Photo: YOSEF GARFINKEL

“Olive trees grow in the wild in the land of Israel, but they do not grow in the Jordan Valley,” she said. “This means that someone brought them there intentionally — took the knowledge and the plant itself to a place that is outside of its natural habitat.”

“In archaeobotany, this is considered indisputable proof of domestication, which means that we have here the earliest evidence of the olive’s domestication anywhere in the world.”

7,000 years-old hearth remains at the village of Tel Tsaf. Photo: YOSEF GARFINKEL

The tree remnants examined by Dr. Langgut were collected by Prof. Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University, who headed the dig at Tel Tsaf Prof. Garfinkel says that “Tel Tsaf was a large prehistoric village in the middle Jordan Valley south of Beit She’an, inhabited between 7,200 and 6,700 years ago.

Large houses with courtyards were discovered at the site, each with several granaries for storing crops. Storage capacities were up to 20 times greater than any single family’s calorie consumption, so clearly these were caches for storing great wealth.

The wealth of the village was manifested in the production of elaborate pottery, painted with remarkable skill. In addition, we found articles brought from afar: pottery of the Ubaid culture from Mesopotamia, obsidian from Anatolia, a copper awl from the Caucasus, and more.”

According to a joint university press release, Langgut and Garfinkel were not surprised to learn that the residents of Tel Tsaf were the first in the world to intentionally grow olive and fig trees, because growing fruit trees is a sign of wealth, and this site is known to have been exceptionally wealthy.

EUROPE, GERMANY, WORLD

Arrowheads Reveal the First Evidence of Organized Armies at ‘Europe’s Oldest Known Battlefield’

Arrowheads Reveal the First Evidence of Organized Armies at ‘Europe’s Oldest Known Battlefield’

Arrowheads Reveal the First Evidence of Organized Armies at ‘Europe’s Oldest Known Battlefield’

Previous investigations in the Tollense Valley, in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have uncovered evidence of a large and violent conflict that took place in the 13th century B.C.E (around 1250 B.C.).

Numerous human remains—representing more than 150 individuals—have been found, and based on the body count, archaeologists estimate that at least 2,000 warriors were involved -Europe’s earliest-known battle, and the largest from the time.

The burning question is who was fighting who. No one is sure who took part in the conflict or the disagreement that led to the bloodshed. Some earlier studies had suggested that only locals took part. But the new research, published in Antiquity, indicates that some combatants were foreign warriors, maybe even part of an invading army.

The analysis of Bronze Age arrowheads found in the Tollense Valley has revealed that some of them were not produced locally. The new research posits that this wasn’t some family feud.

The war in the Tollense Valley 3,250 years ago was interregional, with locals pitted against invaders from the south.

Based on analysis of the arrowheads, they may even have been facing an organized army, archaeologists report in the Journal of Antiquity.

Their research expands on earlier genetic analyses of the teeth of some of the combatants, which also imply that some were not local but rather southern. And by “south,” the archaeologists mean Moravia or Bavaria rather than Greece or Italy.

This skull segment contains an embedded arrowhead from the oldest battle in Europe. Photo: Volker Minkus

The new paper compared bronze and flint arrowheads found in the valley with thousands of contemporary examples from across Europe.

Arrowheads are a type of indisputable evidence, according to Leif Inselmann, the study’s lead author and a former member of the University of Göttingen’s Seminar for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology.

Much like how a murder weapon in a criminal investigation provides clues about the culprit, the arrowheads offer us insights into the combatants in the Battle of the Tollense Valley and where they came from.

Numerous locals may have participated in the battle, as evidenced by the majority of the arrowheads discovered at the site, which are types that are sporadically found in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania region.

On the other hand, certain arrowhead types were identified; these include arrowheads with unilateral barbs, rhomboid or straight bases, and tangs rather than sockets.

These arrowhead types are more prevalent in southern Europe, including modern-day Bavaria and Moravia. These arrowheads have not been found in local burials in the Tollense region, indicating that they were not simply acquired through trade by the local inhabitants and used in the battle.

Arrowheads from the Tollense Valley. Image Credit: Leif Inselmann / Joachim Krüger / LAKD M-V / Sabine Suhr / Jana Dräger

The evidence points to a level of military complexity and organization far higher than previously believed for this era in Bronze Age Europe, suggesting that conflicts were not only more frequent than previously believed but also involved combatants from various regions.

The Battle of the Tollense Valley demonstrated that interregional conflicts existed in Europe more than 3,000 years ago; it was more than just a local skirmish.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Another Roman Head Unearthed at Carlisle Dig

Another Roman Head Unearthed at Carlisle Dig

Another Roman Head Unearthed at Carlisle Dig

Another carved stone Roman head has been found by volunteers at Carlisle’s Roman Bathhouse site in the Cricket Club grounds.

The Carlisle Cricket Club hired archaeologists from Wardell Armstrong LLP in 2017 to evaluate a new Cricket Pavilion. It was during this project that they uncovered a Roman Bathhouse, which is currently the largest known building on Hadrian’s Wall.

A collaboration between the Carlisle Cricket Club, Cumberland Council, Tullie, and Wardell Armstrong has brought hundreds of volunteers, known as The Diggers, back to the site annually since 2021 in order to conduct additional site exploration and present the findings to the public.

The artifact was found Thursday, 19 September while exploring part of a newly discovered, monumental Roman building, south of the bathhouse.

The head is thought to be of a woman and is around 18cm by 13cm, and is described as being “much more delicately carved and more detailed than the previous two monumental heads discovered at the site in 2023.”

At about a third of size of the previous monumental heads, it resembles a more Classical Roman style of sculpture. Although details are still pending, it is believed to be a female, found near a potential burial site, and sporting a hairdo that is strikingly similar to that of Empress Julia Domna, who popularized the look. These details suggest the date of the find to be contemporaneous with the bathhouse.

Most recent Roman head uncovered with a hairstyle reminiscent of the kind worn by the Empress Julia Domna. Photo: Uncovering Roman Carlisle

Lead archaeologist Frank Giecco said he was “astounded” by the number of “quality” treasures that had been found at the ground – more than 4,000 since 2021.

He added that even though they had called the site a bathhouse it was also “a leisure centre and HQ”. The building is now estimated at 50m x 60m.

“It resembles a Thermae, a collection of different offices, religious and social spaces, leisure, and administrative rooms.

The diggers have uncovered over 4,000 significant finds, including 700+ Roman coins, painted wall plaster, military artifacts like arrowheads and spear tips, over 400 hairpins, imperial stamped tiles, North African-style roof tubes, glass beads, gaming pieces, and a rare Roman doll’s foot.

The award-winning community archaeological dig will run until October 20, with the site open to the public between 10am and 3pm each day.

NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

The Oldest Known Tombstone in the US Originally Came from Belgium, New Research has Shown

The Oldest Known Tombstone in the US Originally Came from Belgium, New Research has Shown

The Oldest Known Tombstone in the US Originally Came from Belgium, New Research has Shown

Jamestown, Virginia, was founded in 1607 and was the first English permanent settlement in North America.

The region has been the focus of numerous historical and archaeological investigations, such as the one conducted recently by Prof. Markus M. Key and Rebecca K. Rossi, who sought to ascertain the origin of the tombstone of the black “marble” knight of Jamestown.

The Jamestown’s black “marble” tombstone was erected in honor of a knight but the origins of the stone and the history of the knight were both unknown to historians and archaeologists. The stone dates from 1627 and is the oldest tombstone of its kind in the USA’s Chesapeake Bay area.

The tombstone is covered with carved depressions (once filled with brass inlays) that depict the outline of an English knight with a sword and shield. It was first put in place in 1627, where it remained until the 1640s when the church’s southern entrance was built.

Broken by the time it was rediscovered in 1907, the slab has been repaired and relocated to the chancel of the present-day Memorial Church.

The tombstone has undergone innumerable inspections and analyses; however, Rebecca K. Rossi and Professor Markus M. Key conducted a fresh investigation, which was just released in the International Journal of Historical Archaeology. They wished to determine the origin of the black polished limestone, commonly mis-termed “marble” that was used for the Jamestown knight’s tomb.

What they discovered was unexpected, Professor Key said.

Researchers used fossils found inside the stone to uncover a type of microfossil called foraminifera. The specific origin and time of these foraminifera species may become clear with their identification. Microfossil analysis can therefore be used in forensics to pinpoint geographic locations and is also utilized in geological studies to fine-tune the dating of rock layers.

There were six species of foraminifera identified. Many existed in what is now Belgium during the Carboniferous Period, specifically during the Viséan Age, and Middle Mississippian Epoch (which lasted from about 345 to 328 million years ago).

Jamestown Knight tombstone. Photo: Jamestown Rediscovery, Preservation Virginia/International Journal of Historical Archaeology

This shows with certainty the stone and the microfossils it contains do not actually come from the Chesapeake Bay, the USA or even North America.

According to the latest findings, the knight’s tombstone had to have been transported from Europe by sea. Based on historical evidence, it is more likely that this originated in Belgium and was shipped to London before being delivered to Jamestown, USA.

From Roman times until the present, Belgium has been recognized as the source of this Lower Carboniferous “black” marble for centuries.

“It was particularly popular among the wealthy in England during Knight’s life,” the professor said.

“Little did we realize that colonists were ordering tombstones from Belgium like we order items from Amazon, just a lot slower.”

Of the two knights who died in Jamestown in the 17th century, one was Sir Thomas West, Virginia’s first resident governor, who died in 1618 while crossing the Atlantic to Jamestown.

The second was Sir George Yeardley, who was born in Southwark in 1587 and reached Jamestown in 1610 after surviving a shipwreck near Bermuda.  Knighted on going back to England in 1617, he was appointed Governor of Virginia in 1618 and returned to Jamestown where he held this post until 1621.  He resumed the post in 1626 and died in 1627.

The tombstone is the possibility it belonged to knight Sir George Yeardley, according to historical records.

NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

The secret of the mummy in the Crystal coffin found in a garage in San Francisco

The secret of the mummy in the Crystal coffin found in a garage in San Francisco

The secret of the mummy in the Crystal coffin found in a garage in San Francisco

Mysterious mummies are a symbol of ancient lost times, which we often associate with Egypt and other ancient civilizations. Therefore, the discovery of a  coffin made of crystal with the body of a girl come from under the floor of a garage in  San Francisco is absolutely shocking.

In 2016, while remodeling an old garage in San Francisco, California, workers found a strange object that, upon closer inspection, turned out to be a child’s coffin with an extraordinary design.

Rusted bolts held a metal object together that resembled a large shaped casket, and it was only by unscrewing the bolts that it was possible to identify what it was. Bolts fixed a sheet of metal that covered two windows made of thick glass. Looking inside the box, the workers were taken aback — inside lay the body of a small blonde girl, almost untouched by decay.

The discovery of an old coffin containing the body of a child terrified the people of San Francisco and perplexed scientists. It took them a long time to figure out the mystery of an unusual burial.

In the coffin inside lay the body of a blond girl dressed in a lace dress. Her hair was decorated with lavender petals, and on her chest lay a wreath in the form of a cross of blue bindweeds. In her hands, she held a large purple nightshade flower.

There were no details inside the coffin that would help identify the body.  The body was examined, described, and photographed, after which the experts drew up a protocol, placed the metal coffin containing the child in a wooden box, and… handed it over to the garage owner. According to the law, if the corpse is not a criminal and the relatives are unknown, the burial duties are assigned to the owner of the land where the body was discovered.

During the paperwork, the police gave the deceased the name Eva. And the mistress of the garage, where they found the burial, named the child Miranda.

But how did the coffin with the little dead girl end up under the garage? This was not a surprising occurrence given that the structure stood on the grounds of Odd Fellows Cemetery, San Francisco’s largest cemetery. When the rapidly growing metropolis came close to the extreme graves, a large city churchyard was closed for burials in 1890.

When the cemetery started to negatively impact the neighborhood over time, it was decided to close it down in 1923. Most of the remains were exhumed and buried in common graves, while some of the bodies were taken by relatives for reburial. The coffin with the girl was obviously forgotten in the confusion and remained in the ground, which was handed over to developers.

Tissue and hair samples were taken from the deceased girl for DNA analysis. Erica Karner was busy burying Eva-Miranda while the examination was taking place. The girl’s body began to decompose after the airtight coffin was opened. It was impossible to delay the burial.

Tissue analysis revealed that the baby’s mother was born in the British Isles. Even more interesting were the results of the hair study.

“Hair DNA analysis showed that the child had a protein deficiency and severe malnutrition.

And experts said that most likely this arose due to some kind of illness or due to the amount of medication that the child used,” the lawyer said.

Volunteers explored the city archives. They found a record of the burial of a two-year-old girl who died due to severe exhaustion. Her name is Edith Howard Cook. The child died in October 1876.

The parents’ names were Horatio Nelson and Edith Skaufi Cook. Scientists have even found living relatives of the “girl from the crystal  coffin.”

Thus, volunteers and scientists were able to solve the mystery surrounding the mysterious burial and give the girl’s name back who passed away nearly 150 years ago.

Sleeping Beauty.

Parents often embalmed their dead children’s bodies centuries ago. The famous mummy of a child is kept in Palermo’s Capuchin catacombs. Rosalia Lombardo, the daughter of a Sicilian official, died of pneumonia in 1920. The girl’s body was so well preserved that she was nicknamed “Sleeping Beauty”.

ASIA, CAMBODIA, WORLD

A Temple Guardian From The 13th Century Found At Cambodia’s Angkor Wat

A Temple Guardian From The 13th Century Found At Cambodia’s Angkor Wat

A Temple Guardian From The 13th Century Found At Cambodia’s Angkor Wat

While clearing rubble from a collapsed gate at the Banteay Prei Temple within Cambodia’s Angkor Wat Archaeological Park, workers stumbled upon a sandstone door guardian statue dating back 700 years.

Archaeologists believe the statue may have been buried when the upper structure of the temple collapsed. Despite some notable damage, the statue, known as a dvarapala, was still in near-complete condition when researchers found it.

The Dvarapala statues are a common architectural feature in Buddhist, Jaina, and Hindu cultures. These statues are typically depicted as warriors guarding sacred or regal sites with a weapon, like a mace.

The five-feet and two-inches tall Angkor statue is broken into six pieces, and part of its protective stick is missing.

The statue is in the Bayon style, one associated with serene and mildly smiling Bramha faces that was adopted in the last state temples built at Angkor.

This type of sandstone statue is known as a dvarapala, typically depicting a warrior and meant to serve as an entrance guardian.

“A significant archaeological find has been made at the Banteay Prei Temple,” the Apsara National Authority (ANA) said in a statement.

“The statue was located to the east of the temple’s second gate, buried approximately 80 centimeters (~31 inches)under the ground.”

The closest significant temple to Banteay Prei is Preah Khan, and it is five miles north of the main Angkor temple complex. King Jayavarman VII constructed the temples of Preah Khan and Banteay Prei in the late 1200s or early 1300s as a tribute to his father.

“The sandstone gate guardian will now be stored at the Preah Norodom Sihanouk-Angkor Museum,” Angkor Wat’s heritage police said in a statement. “It will be preserved and studied further.”

The discovery of this guardian statue is just the latest in a series of fascinating discoveries at Angkor Wat Archaeological Park, which comprises more than 250 square miles.

For instance, earlier this year, Xinhua reported that during an excavation at the Ta Prohm temple within the park, archaeologists found more than 100 Buddhist statues.

Buddha was portrayed in these statues in a variety of poses, frequently sitting cross-legged, and in different sizes. They were created in the late 12th and early 13th centuries in the Bayon style, just like the guardian statue.

Angkor Wat welcomes hundreds of thousands of tourists each year and has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1992.

EUROPE, SPAIN, WORLD

On a 5,300-year-old skull, archaeologists find evidence of the first known ear surgery

On a 5,300-year-old skull, archaeologists find evidence of the first known ear surgery

On a 5,300-year-old skull, archaeologists find evidence of the first known ear surgery

Humans may have begun performing ear surgery more than 5,000 years ago, say Spanish archaeologists.

Spanish researchers say the skull they found in a Spanish tomb, with seven cut marks found near the left ear canal, is an indication that a person with “anatomical knowledge” performed a primitive surgical procedure to relieve possible ear pain.

“These evidences point to a mastoidectomy, a surgical procedure possibly performed to relieve the pain this prehistoric individual may have suffered as a result of otitis media and mastoiditis,” the Spanish researchers concluded in an article released on Tuesday in Scientific Reports.

The skull, which according to the study belonged to an elderly lady, was discovered with other human remains of over 100 persons in a massive, single-chamber, multi-phase tomb dating from the late Neolithic era known as the Dolmen of El Pendón in Reinoso, Burgos, Spain, in 2018.

Manuel Rojo-Guerra of the Department of Prehistory and Archaeology at the University of Valladolid, who together with colleagues Sonia Díaz-Navarro and Cristina Tejedor-Rodríguez have been excavating the site since 2016.

Set of cut marks identified on the left temporal bone of the skull. Side view of the left side of the skull (a), detail of the left temporal bone with the ear surgery (b), and enlarged image of the cut marks made in the left ear next to the surgical procedure (c). (Photo: Scientific Reports)

The skull showed evidence of two perforations on both sides of the skull near its mastoid bones, which indicates that the surgery attempted to relieve growing pressure in the ear canal.

It is unknown if the procedures were carried out at the same time, or during separate occasions, they said, but specific bone growth around the area indicates that the woman survived both procedures.

“Given the chronology of this dolmen, this find would be the earliest surgical ear intervention in the history of mankind,” the researchers said in their report.

Rojo-Guerra said the additional discovery in the tomb of a flint blade with traces of having cut bone and having been reheated several times at between 300-350 degrees leads them to propose that it was used as a cauterization surgical instrument for the procedure.

Doctors at the University Hospital of the University of Valladolid confirmed that the procedure would have been very similar to surgical interventions that are still performed today to eliminate middle ear infections, he said.

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