Melanie Salque, a former PhD student in the OGU, landed a Nature paper in January entitled "Earliest evidence for cheese making in the sixth millennium BC in northern Europe". Melanie and co-authors coupled traditional archaeological techniques and advanced analytical chemistry (GC-MS, GC-C-IRMS) in order to show that people have been making cheese in Europe for up to 7,500 years.

 

Using facilities available within the OGU and the NERC Life Sciences Facility, Melanie measured the the carbon isotopic signature of C_16:0 and C_18:0 fatty acids and the distribution of triacylglycerols and was able to show that dairy fats were preserved within these potsherds.

This paper received widespread press attention and was featured on the BBC, the New York Times and The Independant.

• Evidence of world's 'oldest' cheese-making found (Source: BBC)
• Stone Age people were making cheese over 7,000 years ago (Source: Independant)
• Hints of cheesemaking in prehistoric Europe (Source: NYT)
  

For further information, here is a link to the paper. Salque et al,. 2013

Its a brie-lliant read!