Most mummies in Ljubljana University’s study still smelled pleasant thanks to fragrant plastic and other materials used in the marinating process.
New research published in magazines Journal of the American Chemical Society On February 13, after thousands of years, the ancient Egyptian mummy did not smell as unpleasant as many people mistakenly thought. Thanks to the efforts of the marinade, the dry mummies still retain many aromas from the initially used oils and wax.
“The smell of mummies has long attracted the attention of experts and the public, but there has been no scientific research combining chemistry and the feeling has been done so far,” Professor Matija Strlic Ljubljana University (Slovenia), the main author of the new study, explained. Along with a group of olfactory experts, Strlic analyzed the smell of 9 mummies stored at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, of which the oldest mummy existed from the New Kingdom of Egypt, starting From 1539 BC.
“This breakthrough research really helps us to plan better conservation and better understand the ancient mummified materials,” he said.
Based on the report of the expert group, 78% of the sample still retained the wood flavor, while 67% of the samples were described as spicy and 56% had a sweet smell. Only one third of the mummies radiates an unpleasant smell like before or oh, a similar ratio has the same smell of incense.
In addition to experts assessing the smell, the team also thanks to the “electronic nose” to better understand the volatile compounds radiating from ancient mummies. This process shows the presence of the Terpenoid group, such as Pinene, Limonene and Verbenone.
These compounds indicate that the ancients used pine plastic or pine, wood, frankincense, and many other plants such as thyme, lavender and eucalyptus for mummified process. In addition, the presence of Borneol organic compounds can come from the use of camphor.
Using the method of gas chromatography and mass, the research team separates aromatic compounds into substances generated from mummified materials, vegetable oils and insecticides added in the conservation process. Modern, the substance generated from mold and microorganisms. In general, they found that the mummy displayed often smells stronger and more complex than the mummy, may be due to the accumulation of volatile compounds in the display cabinet.
Based on the new discovery, the research team proposed that “odor heritage” should be considered an important part of the cultural, historical and archaeological values of ancient Egyptian mummies, and call for Bao Bao. Museum of efforts to preserve these ancient scents.