Random Oldest Foods Ever Discovered By Archaeologists (12 items)

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  (#1) 2,400-Year-Old Soup, Green From Oxidation

  Some of the best archaeological food discoveries come from tombs, where people were buried with provisions for the afterlife. Archaeologists working in China found a surprising food haul in one tomb, where they uncovered a bronze cooking pot. When they opened the pot, they found 2,400-year-old bone soup. Because of oxidization, the soup turned green, but it was still in liquid form, and the bones were still floating on top.
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  (#12) Honey From An Ancient Egyptian Tomb

  The oldest sample of honey from the Egyptian pyramids is approximately 3,000 years old. Scientists even claim the honey is still edible because of its natural “preservatives,” namely its low water content, acidic properties, and small amounts of hydrogen peroxide – a byproduct of bees’ stomachs. 

  In addition to food, ancient Egyptians used honey as an ingredient in their embalming fluid. 
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  (#6) 2,000-Year-Old Pickled Fish

  Around 2,000 years ago, a ship sunk in the Mediterranean on its way from Italy to Spain. The hull was filled with sealed glass jars containing foods like grain, olive oil, and pickled fish. Archaeologists believe the foods were going to be traded in Spain for other goods.
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  (#8) 5,500-Year-Old Burnt Bread

  The very first farmers in Britain were making bread – and burning it – 5,500 years ago. Archaeologists found the bread, made from barley, in a pit near Oxford. The bread was either tossed into a garbage pit or intended as a religious offering. The hunk of bread looked so much like the hunk of coal pictured here, scientists originally mistook the find for charcoal. Once they put the bread under the microscope, however, ancient grains of barley became visible.
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  (#9) 140-Year-Old Toxic Victorian Beer

  In February 2020, a cache of 600 beer bottles was discovered below the staircase of what was once a Victorian brewery in Leeds, England. The bottles were found neatly stacked in the ancient remains of the Scarborough Castle Inn, which was part of Tetley's Brewery (established in 1822). According to Archaeological Services WYAS, the group responsible for the find, many of the bottles still contained liquid and were sent to a lab for analysis.

  At first, the bottles' contents were thought to be ginger beer, but the liquid was later confirmed to not only be alcoholic (at 3% alcohol by volume) but also disturbingly toxic. The beer contained a high volume of lead, at 0.13 mg/l, which is well above the safe level of 0.01 mg/l recommended by the World Health Organization. On its Facebook page, Archaelogical Services WYAS notes that the high level of lead may be due to contamination from water being transported through lead pipes. 

  David Williams, senior project manager at Archaeological Services WYAS, told The Drinks Business that the bottles probably date to the late 19th century, “perhaps the 1880s.”
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  (#4) 1,700-Year-Old Bottle Of Roman Tomb Wine

  The oldest unopened bottle of wine is almost 1,700 years old and comes from a Roman tomb near Speyer, Germany. The bottle was discovered during the excavation of a Roman nobleman’s tomb that dates between 325 and 359 CE. Following its discovery, the unopened bottle was placed in the Historical Museum of the Palatinate in Speyer.

  The ancient wine bottle survived the fall of Rome, the rise of the Holy Roman Empire, and several major wars, all while remaining intact. A combination of olive oil poured in the bottle and a thick wax seal preserved the contents. As for the wine’s taste, wine professor Monika Christmann warns, “it would not bring joy to the palate.”

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