Cheese dating back to the Bronze Age has shed light on our ancestors’ diets - and hold lessons for the present day

Scientists have sequenced DNA from 3,600-year-old cheese, the oldest in the archaeological record. The intact cheese was found with mummified remains in China.

About 20 years ago, researchers discovered three ancient mummies in China. They had a strange white substance smeared around their necks, which turned out to be chunks of preserved cheese. Dating back around 3,

It’s aged — 3,600 years. Scientists have successfully pulled a DNA strand from what they believe to be the world’s oldest cheese, yanking it from Bronze Age mummies in a Chinese graveyard, circa 2,000 B.

The world's oldest cheese has been discovered around the neck of a mummy. A 3,600-year-old coffin was opened at the Xiaohe Cemetery, in China, during an excavation in 2003, when researchers discovered the cheese wrapped around the neck of a mummified woman.