Scientists Bake Sourdough Using 5,000-Year-Old Yeast From Frozen Mummy's Gut
Researchers found four cold-adapted yeasts in Ötzi’s stomach and used them to make sourdough, according to a 2025 paper in Microbiome.
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Scientists bake sourdough using 5,000-year-old yeast from frozen mummy's gut
A bizarre research story is making the rounds on Reddit. Scientists took ancient yeast from the intestines of a frozen mummy known as Oetzi the Iceman and used it to bake a sourdough bread, as the AFP reported in an article posted by The Japan Times. What happened? A poster shared the article link to the r/NotTheOnion subreddit and titled the post, "Scientists find yeast in ancient Iceman's guts — and make bread." "That's one helluva sentence y…
They're Making Ötzi The Iceman Show Feet
When I first saw the press release announcing that scientists had harvested yeast from the remains of Ötzi the 5,000-year-old iceman and used it to make a sourdough bread, I admit I was not terribly moved. The announcement smelled like a publicity stunt designed to get Ötzi back in the headlines—as if he does not get enough coverage as is! Ötzi the iceman makes the news more than any other 5,000-year-old person, given each new horrible clinical …
He died in the Alps more than 5,000 years ago, but scientists are still discovering new secrets in the body of Ötzi, the famous iceman. A new study suggests that microorganisms may be present in the mummy that not only preserve valuable information from the past, but could also endanger the find itself in the long term.
An innovative study shows that microorganisms found in Ötzi, the mummy of the Alps, have survived for millennia and are now used to make bread, providing new light on the biological history of mankind.
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