06/11/2026
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Researchers studying Ötzi the Iceman have reported that living cold-adapted yeast is still present on the 5,300-year-old mummy discovered in the Alps in 1991.
The findings were published on June 3, 2026, by a team at Eurac Research in Italy.
Scientists say the yeast most likely came from the glacier environment after Ötzi's death and has remained active even inside the museum freezer where the mummy is kept at minus 6 degrees Celsius.
After months of carefully growing the microbes in low-temperature conditions, the team used them to make sourdough bread.
Lead author Mohamed Sarhan said their first attempts failed.
Three months later, they had a successful starter and what he described as a very good sourdough.
The researchers also identified traces of ancient gut bacteria and modern microbes introduced through decades of handling.
Beer experiments are already on the list.
A mummy that has been frozen for more than five millennia is still giving scientists new things to study, and apparently something to bake with as well.
