These small lumps of fermented dairy, laid around the necks of the deceased, represent the longest-aged cheese ever discovered–at about 3,500 years old. Not only is the ancient cheese incredibly well-preserved,

When the 3,600-year-old coffin of a young woman was excavated in northwestern China two decades ago, archeologists discovered a mysterious substance laid out along her neck like a piece of jewelry.

Among the treasures they dug up were mysterious white lumps strewn across the mummies’ necks: chunks of the oldest preserved cheese in the world. Writing in the journal Cell on September 25th, a team of researchers led by Fu Qiaomei from the Chinese Academy of Sciences now reports the first genetic analysis of this most rancid of rinds.

When researchers tested a mysterious substance on the heads and necks of ancient mummies found in China's Tarim Basin, they discovered that it was the world's oldest cheese.

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.