Posted on 08/16/2018 10:09:02 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Last month, archaeologists cracked open a tomb excavated in Alexandria, Egypt, revealing three skeletons bathing in an crimson pool of sludgy sewage. In response, tens of thousands around the world immediately petitioned for the right to sip from the freshly uncorked casket of amontillado. (Spoiler: It hasn't worked out.) But fear not, coffin connoisseurs: There's a new artisanal artifact in town -- the world's oldest solid cheese, over 3,000 years in the making.
The tomb of Ptahmes, mayor of Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt during the 13th century BC, contains quite the trove of treasures. First uncovered in 1885, the site was then lost to time for over a century. But between 2013 and 2014, Cairo University archaeologists rooting around the grave stumbled across a few broken jars with puzzling contents. One had remnants of a solid, whitish mass, as well as a canvas fabric the researchers speculate may have covered the jar when it was whole -- perhaps to preserve its contents...
The lump still contained a few recognizable bits of proteins, including casein from both cow milk and either sheep or goat milk. Since the cloth covering wouldn't have kept a liquid from spilling out, the researchers reasoned that they were probably dealing with a solid dairy product, rather than, say, an old bottle of very spoiled milk...
It turns out this antique cheese had a blood- (and milk-) curdling secret: a possible infestation of Brucella melitensis, a species of bacteria that causes the infectious disease brucellosis, which comes with a whole set of kicky symptoms including fever, sweating and muscle pain. Unsurprisingly, eating or drinking unpasteurized or raw dairy products is one of the most common ways to contract Brucella.
(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...
Thanks for reminding me it’s time to clean the refrigerator.
We're lucky to have such experts working and writing for the Smithsonian.
Hard to say, those figures are always pointing in both directions at once.
Would you want to be the first to “cut that cheese”?
Maybe, it must be great to have lasted this long, wasn't even grated to start with.
Just the pharaohs were, they had the wealth -- the rest of Egyptians were Poe.
I’m not going to eat it, you eat it.
I thought the ancient Egyptians were lactose intolerant and could only eat cheese, but could not drink milk. Do I have that wrong?
I'd never heard that. They domesticated cattle, or at least they adopted that practice, and grew huge surpluses of wheat. Probably not lactose intolerant or gluten allergic.
I’m waiting for them to dig up a 3,000 year old Twinkie - bet it’s still edible.
Ouch
Why on Earth would sickos want to drink that nasty stuff when they can just go rob a local grave and probably get similar results?
I think it pertained to some witless superstition that the liquid worked like the fountain of youth or some ****. The link to the earlier topic should lead to whatever paassed for the explanation. :^)
“They are not exactly real meat. But they don’t spoil.” — Herb Tarleck
“I’m not going to eat it, you eat it.”
Give it to Mikey.
He’ll eat anything.
Well played
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