Chinese and German researchers found cheese in the graves of 4,000 year-old bodies preserved in the Tarim Basin found in Xinjiang, China. The discovery provides evidence that cheese-making has been common even in early days.
The mummies found in these graves were believed to be herders who lived during the Bronze Age. They were discovered underneath boats protected with cowhide and wooden poles. The poles, which measure 13 feet in length and looked like oars, were believed to be symbols of fertility.
The identity of the people found in this cemetery at the Taklamakan Desert is not yet known. However, the dry climate of the desert allowed for the preservation of the bodies' clothes as well as trinkets and food buried with them.
The cheese found in this grave is the oldest cheese to be found, although there are some evidences showing cheese-making in Europe as early as 6th millennium BC.
According to the researchers, the cheese closely resembles kefir. Kefir is fermented milk and it could be strained to make a kind of cheese similar to cottage cheese. Kefir is lactose-free and it is made by introducing bacterial substance to the milk from a cow, sheep, or goat.
"Kefir fermentation of...milk by a symbiotic culture of Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens and other lactic acid bacteria and yeasts was the basis of robust, scalable, probiotic, lactose-free dairy and a key technological advance that introduced economic benefits of extensive herding into a semi-pastoral...population," the researchers wrote in their study.
Kefir is also rich in probiotics and according to researchers, the consumption of cheese made the tribe's immune system stronger. However, dietitian and diabetes education in New York, Susan Weiner stated that not all kinds of cheese could be a source of probiotics.
"If we eat mainly processed foods in large quantities, we may not get enough probiotics. Also, many people eat processed cheese spreads or pizza which are not good sources of probiotics," Weiner told Healthline News. "Research shows that the elderly might benefit from consuming more probiotics. It seems to give a boost to the immune system."
Further details of this discovery can be read on the Journal of Archaeological Science.
