Researchers have used both human noses and scientific instruments to probe how ancient Egyptian mummies smell today, and to what extent the odours reflect the materials used during the mummification process.
They added that these individual components came from four main sources: materials used during the mummification process, substances given off by microbes, synthetic pesticides and repellants, and plant oils used in conservation.
“The other motivation to do this research is to provide curators with [a] synthetic mummy smell, synthetic smell of mummified bodies that they can then use to engage audiences,” he said.
“Just the idea that you can put your nose to that little tube and smell a mummified body with 3,500 years of history and then, the most surprising thing, still get a whiff of something so incredibly familiar as tea … that was surprising, because some smells were really familiar,” she said.
Among other results, seven of the nine mummies were deemed to have a “woody” component to their smell, six had a “spicy” component, five had a “sweet” aspect, and three were deemed to have “incense-like” notes.
