Even eyelashes remained intact on some individuals. 🧀 The Strange White Substance

Archaeologists noticed yellowish-white chunks around the necks and heads of several mummies.

They looked like:

small stones
necklace beads
ritual offerings

For years, researchers suspected the substance might be some type of fermented dairy product, but no one could confirm exactly what it was.

The answer came two decades later. 🧬 DNA Analysis Reveals the World’s Oldest Kefir Cheese

In September 2024, scientists finally identified the mysterious substance.

The fragments turned out to be kefir cheese — the oldest ever discovered.

The research was led by paleogeneticist Qiaomei Fu from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and published in the journal Cell on September 25, 2024.

According to Fu:

“Regular cheese is soft. This has turned into a dry, dense powder.”

⏳ Age of the Cheese Samples Tomb Sample Estimated Age Tomb 1 ~3,300 years Tomb 2 ~3,500 years Tomb 3 ~3,600 years

These dates correspond to the Bronze Age in Central Asia.

The desert climate preserved both:

human remains
organic food fragments