Fifty years ago, archaeologists used an oil-rig drill to bore 53 meters below the surface of a mound in Gordion, Turkey, the ancient capital of Phrygia. Underneath the limestone-rich earth was the oldest intact wooden structure in the world, a 5 x 6 meter chamber dating from the eighth century B.C. The archaeologists tunneled through a double wall of logs and timber to reach the inner chamber, where, along with a stash of bronze feasting implements and wooden furniture, they found the body of a man.

Researchers agree that, given the date and location of the tomb and the riches it contained, the body is that of King Midas. He died between the age of 60 and 65, and he was well-fed. In fact, as scientists report this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, his diet might be the cause of the unusual type of fungal growth seen in his tomb.

Gordian carpenters knew what they were doing. Decay-resistant cedar was used for the floor and the coffin, and huge juniper logs protected the pine walls of the inner chamber. Almost entirely sealed off from the outside world, the tomb was, for its age, well-preserved, but that same isolation produced selection conditions that favored the growth of an unusual type of decay-organism.