This came after the mission resumed, on Saturday, the work of its sixth excavation season in the Saqqara antiquities area, and its work resulted in the discovery of a group of pottery vessels, with inscriptions in the ancient Egyptian language in the form of demotic lines.
The Secretary-General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri, explained that “inside these pots, a group of white cheese molds was found, which is likely to date back to the late period in the time period of the 26th and 27th dynasties.”
Waziri indicated in a statement that “the ancient Egyptian called white cheese (Haram), a word that changed during Coptic times to (Halloum), and then it is now known as (Haloum cheese).”
He added: “There is still another set of pots completely closed, and the mission will open them soon to find out the secrets they contain, and excavations will be completed to reveal more treasures of this region.”
cheese history
• The Egyptian antiquities expert and director of the Valley of the Kings Antiquities District in Luxor, Ali Reda, told Sky News Arabia that the 26th and 27th families date back to approximately 664 BC, meaning that the age of this discovered cheese exceeds 2500 years.
• Reda continued that “the ancient Egyptian knew cheese and made it from goat’s milk, and before the discovery announced on Saturday, a large pottery vessel was found in the Saqqara area with a mold of cheese dating back more than 3200 years.”
• The official explained that “cheese is not a common content found in tombs. This is a rare occurrence and indicates how the pharaohs exploited all nature’s resources for food.”
• He added that “the pharaohs used to make cheese in the well-known primitive way used in some Egyptian rural houses until now, which is filtering milk through a piece of cloth to isolate milk from whey and extracting cheese, but no traces have been found so far that suggest the establishment of factories or places dedicated to making cheese. and dairy products.”
• Reda stressed that “the new discovery that was found in Saqqara, its full details are not yet known, and after the mission translates all the symbols on the pots, we will have more information about how cheese and dairy products are made by the Pharaohs.”
Not the first detection
It is worth noting that in 2018, a team of archaeological researchers found a number of broken jars in an ancient pharaonic tomb, and by an exciting coincidence they found a mysterious white substance that required studies and research to reveal its components.
Research resulted in the discovery of a type of cheese that is the oldest of its kind in the world, despite finding similar foodstuffs in Pharaonic tombs, according to the American newspaper “New York Times” at the time.
According to the available information, a piece of cheese was found for the first time in the tomb of a prominent figure who lived in Egypt during the thirteenth century before the country. The tomb was first discovered in 1885, but then disappeared due to the movement of sand, and was rediscovered again in 2010.
The ancient Egyptians used to preserve food in the tombs of the dead, especially of kings and dignitaries, because of their belief in the existence of another life after death. Researchers found various foodstuffs, including honey and bread, during previous explorations.
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