The Murder Victim Who Became a Sourdough Starter

Researchers have baked a loaf of sourdough bread using yeast extracted from Ötzi the Iceman, a 5,300-year-old mummy who was, for the record, shot in the back with an arrow before any of this happened to him.

The yeast strains are cold-adapted, originating from the Alpine glacier environment where Ötzi lay frozen, and they continued colonizing his remains even after he was moved to a refrigeration chamber held at 21 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 6 degrees Celsius). That biological persistence is what made this experiment possible. The researchers describe Ötzi as "not a static relic but a dynamic biological system," having found a mix of ancient and modern microbes. Some probably lived inside him while he was alive; others colonized his remains after death.

The sourdough attempt didn't work at first, but after three months of effort, microbiologist Mohamed Sarhan reported "a very, very good sourdough." Sarhan, who works at the Eurac Research Institute for Mummy Studies, admitted he had never baked before and that it showed. The yeast, apparently, carried its end of the deal.

When asked whether the team was considering using the yeast to brew beer, Sarhan responded: "It's on the list." They've already been in contact with German brewer Weihenstephan about exactly that. The yeast also demonstrated an ability to break down phenol, a preservative chemical used on Ötzi's body after discovery, which the researchers say could have future applications in contaminated environments.

More than 5,300 years ago, before the Egyptian pyramids were built, Ötzi was killed by an arrow in the back while crossing the Alps. He left behind 61 tattoos, a detailed gut microbiome and, it turns out, a starter culture.

Five millennia of cold storage and the man's still rising.

Read the full story at The Guardian, June 5, 2026

Hot Take: There's something unsettling about how often "dead" turns out to be a temporary administrative status for microbes.