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Scientists make sourdough bread using yeast found in 5,000-year-old mummy <p>Team now plans to see if they can use yeast strains harvested from Ötzi the Iceman to brew beer too</p><p>Scientists have baked a sourdough loaf of bread using yeast strains harvested from a 5,000-year-old mummy and now plan to see if they can use them to brew beer too.</p><p>The yeast came from Ötzi the Iceman, a famous corpse remarkably preserved by being frozen in Alpine ice near the Italy-Austria border until he was discovered in 1991. Ötzi has been the subject of intense study since he was found and has shed much light on pre-historic European people and their way of life.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/05/scientists-sourdough-bread-yeast-strains-mummy">Continue reading...</a>

Scientists Made Sourdough Bread With Yeast Found on Ötzi the Iceman's ... The scientists got permission to defrost the mummified remains. South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology / Eurac Research / Marion Lafogler In 1991, hikers exploring the Tyrolean Alps between Italy and Austria discovered the mummified remains of a 5,300-year-old man. Since then, scientists have learned a lot about the mummy, nicknamed “Ötzi the Iceman,” including that he was going bald , had numerous tattoos and was infected with a cancer-causing strain of HPV . Now, researchers say they have successfully made sourdough bread using yeast found on Ötzi’s body. Up next, they hope to try making beer. “We want to pursue this further and involve specialized research teams from the food sector in the process,” Mohamed Sarhan , a microbiologist with the Institute for Mummy Studies at Eurac Research, says in a statement . The findings suggest that Ötzi is “not a static relic but a dynamic biological system,” Frank Maixner , who directs the Institute for Mummy Studies, says in the statement. Sarhan and Maixner are co-authors of a new paper published June 3 in the journal Microbiome , which describes the community of microor…

Scientists turn ancient mummy yeast into sourdough bread WORLD Archaeology Add Topic Scientists found yeast in an ancient mummy. Then they made bread Anthony Thompson USA TODAY Updated June 4, 2026, 5:17 p.m. ET Hear this story More than 5,300 years after his death in the Alps, a famous frozen mummy is still helping scientists make new discoveries − and even bake fresh bread. Researchers studying Ötzi the Iceman have identified living, cold-adapted yeast inside and around his preserved body and used one strain to bake sourdough bread, according to a study published June 3 in the journal Microbiome. The findings offer a rare glimpse into ancient human life and the microscopic organisms that have survived alongside the mummy for thousands of years. Scientists say the research also raises new questions about how best to preserve one of the world's most famous archaeological discoveries. "Our study reveals that Ötzi is not a static, biologically inert relic," lead author Mohamed Sarhan of Italy's Eurac Research Institute told Reuters . "He is a dynamic ecosystem." A mummy frozen in time Ötzi died roughly 5,300 years ago in the Alps near what is now the border of Italy and Austria. …

Scientists Make Sourdough Bread With Ancient Yeast From Ötzi the ... Gary Manners June 06 / 2026 Getting your audio player ready... In an astonishing blend of archaeology and baking, scientists have successfully cultivated ancient, cold-adapted yeast found on the body of Ötzi the Iceman to bake sourdough bread. This remarkable achievement not only offers a tantalizing taste of the past but also reveals that the famous 5,300-year-old mummy is a dynamic biological system, still hosting active microorganisms millennia after his death in the freezing Alps. Ötzi, discovered by hikers in 1991 in the Ötztal Alps on the border of Austria and Italy, is perhaps the most intensely studied human mummy in history. Since his discovery, researchers have learned about his health, his tattoos, and his last meal of ibex, red deer, and einkorn wheat. Now, a recent study published in the journal Microbiome by researchers from the Eurac Research Institute for Mummy Studies in Italy has unveiled a complex microbial ecosystem living on and inside the Iceman. By analyzing swabs from Ötzi’s skin, thawed water from his remains, and soil from the discovery site, the team distinguished between ancient microb…

Scientists Make Bread With Yeast From Ötzi The Iceman Researchers were able to collect four strains of yeast that had colonized the skin and guts of Ötzi the Iceman, the naturally preserved corpse of a man who was murdered in the frozen reaches of the Alps circa 3200 B.C.E. South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology A trove of prehistoric microbes have been found in the mummified body of Ötzi the Iceman. Ötzi the Iceman may have died 5,300 years ago, but the mummy is still bringing forth new life today. A recent study of the microbes in and on Ötzi’s body discovered four strains of yeast that scientists believe have been part of his corpse for millennia. They were able to cultivate the yeast — and they even made “very good” sourdough bread with it. What’s more, the study of Ötzi’s microbiome is providing rare insight into the diets of people who lived during the Copper Age. Discovering Yeast In Ötzi The Iceman’s 5,300-Year-Old Corpse The body of Ötzi the Iceman was discovered by two German hikers in northern Italy’s Ötzal Alps in 1991. The mummified corpse had been frozen in a glacier for more than 5,000 years, and it was remarkably well preserved. Getty Images Two German hikers observe Öt…

Scientists find yeast in frozen mummy's guts, use it to make sourdough ... Yeast has been growing in the guts of a frozen mummy called Oetzi the Iceman for thousands of years, scientists have discovered, telling AFP they used it to make a sourdough bread. More than 5,300 years ago — before the Egyptian pyramids were built — Oetzi was strolling through the Alps on the border of Austria and Italy when he was killed by an arrow in the back. He remained frozen in the ice until two German hikers stumbled across his mummified remains in 1991 in the northern Italian region of South Tyrol. Since then, his stunningly well-preserved remains have been kept at the same temperature — minus six degrees Celsius — as his icy tomb. This has allowed scientists to carefully study Oetzi, who offers an incredibly rare window into ancient human life. For the latest research, published in the Microbiome journal on Wednesday, an Italy-based team found evidence that both ancient and modern microbial life remain active in the frozen body. "What we didn't expect to find was yeast," lead study author Mohamed Sarhan of the Eurac Research institute in the Italian city of Bolzano told AFP. The 5300-year-old mum…