Cheese can be seen as a staple in most households around the world so it is no surprise that cheese as we know it today has been produced and consumed for thousands of years. In fact, some of the earliest records of cheese date to around 5,000 years ago in none other than ancient Egypt.
Known to the ancient Egyptians as Haram, this cheese would go on to be named Halum/ Halloum and would later be known as the beloved white cheese of today, Halloumi. Depicted in tombs and offered to the dead in alabaster jars, cheese was a popular grave good among the elite and was made using a mixture of animal milks.
Gravely Good Cheese
In 2010, the Saqqara Cairo University excavation team was working in the tomb of Ptahmes when they stumbled upon what is now known as one of the oldest solid residues of cheese ever uncovered. Ptahmes was a high ranking official during Egypt’s 19th Dynasty (1292 BCE to 1189 BCE) who served under the Pharaohs Sethi I and Ramses II. Born in 1290 BCE, Ptahmes would go on to become the mayor of Egypt's ancient capital city Memphis, army chief, overseer of the treasury, royal scribe, and High Priest of Amun at Karnak (modern-day Luxor) before being buried in Saqqara upon his death in 1213 BCE.
Over 3,000 years later, Ptahmes’ grave-goods of amulets, vessels, shabti figures, and a painted bust of his daughter were unearthed. However, perhaps the most notable treasure was the cheese. Laying untouched for thousands of years within the confines of a broken jar, the story of this ancient cheese wrapped in linen cloth began to unfold.
Dying for Dairy
Through proteomic analysis, the proteins of the cheese found in Ptahmes's tomb revealed that the cheese (referenced as PTAH_1 in the study) was made using a combination of cow, goat, and sheep milk (modern mixed cheese equivalents: Sulguni, Cabrales, and Halloumi). However, the most notable discovery was that of the sequence IGSIKER which allowed for the identification of a protein (Accession No. P65975) from Brucella melitensis biotype 1.
Though this all may sound like a series of random letters and numbers, it actually points to a disease that had only previously been indirectly identified on the pelvic and hip bones of mummies in the form of sacroiliitis, spondylitis, and osteoarticular lesions. The disease: Brucellosis.
Brucellosis (osteoarticular) historically has been known to cause flu-like symptoms such as fever, sweats, headaches, back pain, and or physical weakness. With up to 80% of cases affecting the sacroiliac and up to 54% affecting the spinal joints, this disease was previously only observed in ancient Egypt towards the end of the New Kingdom and into the Late Intermediate Period (~750 BCE). However, this cheese now points to this disease being present during the Pharaonic Period which now opens doors for further research into how diseases were managed thousands of years ago.
Conclusion
From our plates to the jars of the past, food can reveal various aspects of our lives. From how we enjoy our meals to how we envision our lives after death, foods such as cheese have played and continue to play a vital role in the human experience. With the discovery of Ptahmes's cheese, not only do we gain new insights into the culinary world of ancient Egyptians but we also gain new understandings of how disease entered into the homes and tombs of the past.
Text: Megan Kumorek. MENAM Archaeology. Copyright 2023.
Images:
From Tomb to Disease Illustration: Greco, E. et al.
Excavated Materials: Greco, E. et al.
Protein Analysis: Greco, E. et al.
Further Reading:
Greco, E., et al. 2018. “Proteomic Analyses on an Ancient Egyptian Cheese and Biomolecular Evidence of Brucellosis.” Analytical Chemistry, vol. 90, no. 16, pp. 9673–9676., https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.8b02535.
Whipple, T. 2018. “Pharaoh's Big Cheese Was Dying for a Snack.” News | The Times, The Times,
Mehdawy, M. and ; Hussein, A. 2010. The Pharaoh's Kitchen: Recipes from Ancient Egypt's Enduring Food Traditions. American University in Cairo Press.
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