Breathing History: Recreating Ancient Egyptian Embalming Scents

In this Science Friday episode, archaeochemist Barbara Huber and perfumer Carol Calvey discuss reviving scents from ancient Egyptian embalming materials. They explain that resins from conifers, beeswax, balsams, and even bitumen helped preserve the corpse and created a complex, smoky yet sweet aroma. By analyzing tiny mummy samples with chromatography and mass spectrometry, they reconstruct a multi-note perfume and translate lab data into a museum experience where visitors can smell a scent card as a “time machine for the nose.” The conversation also covers how such fragrances functioned as markers of status, ritual practice, and connectivity in ancient trade networks, offering a smellier lens on ancient life.

Introduction and Myth Busting

Kathleen Davis introduces a less-acknowledged dimension of the ancient world: scent. The discussion centers on whether the ancient world was smellier than today and why researchers would bother reviving ancient aromas. Barbara Huber, an archaeochemist at the University of Tubingen, and Carol Calvey, a Paris-based perfumer, explain that odor was an integral part of daily life, ritual, and social signaling in antiquity. They argue that missing smells from the past leaves a skewed, odorless picture of ancient life and that studying aromatics can illuminate trade networks, cultural practices, and identity formation. The conversation also highlights smells as markers of status in rituals such as mummification and temple offerings, illustrating how scent can reveal connections across vast distances in the ancient world.

"The past life was odorous, and perfumes served as markers of status and ritual meaning." - Barbara Huber

Why Smell History Matters

Huber and Calvey discuss the value of smelling history. They describe how scents were used to cover up malodors, mark social standing, and participate in rituals that defined group identity. The guests emphasize that the ancient world was deeply interconnected through trade in resins and aromatic substances, with Egyptians drawing materials from far-off regions, including Southeast Asia, suggesting early global connectivity. Smell is presented not merely as a sensory backdrop but as a narrative tool that helps researchers understand daily life, religious practice, and cross-cultural exchange in ways that textual records alone cannot. They emphasize that scent offers a tangible, experiential route to history, enabling audiences to engage emotionally with the past.

"We cannot be 100% authentic, but the scent reconstruction gives people a feel of what it could have been." - Barbara Huber

Decoding the Embalming Formula

The experts turn to the embalming mix used in the mummification process. Barbara outlines the main components identified in tiny samples: a coniferous resin that evokes forest scents, beeswax for sweetness, balsams with rich resinous notes, bitumen for a smoky, asphalt-like character, and a resin such as damar or pistachio resin that brings freshness and a hint of citrus. Huber explains that the combination results in an elegant, multifaceted fragrance rather than a simple sweetness. The discussion highlights how these materials could survive degradation over millennia and how biomarkers help identify the original substances despite degradation. The goal of understanding the recipe is not just nostalgia but a pathway to reconstruct the sensory landscape of a historical practice and its cultural meanings.

"The balm was a mixture of several different ingredients, and one very prominent component was a coniferous resin... bitumen added a smoky, barbecue-like note." - Barbara Huber

From Molecules to Scent

Carol Calvey describes the process of turning molecular data into a wearable fragrance. She explains that she starts with a list of raw materials identified by Barbara and then searches for contemporary perfumery equivalents that evoke the original scents. She notes that not all ancient materials have direct modern equivalents, so the recreation blends existing perfumery ingredients with interpretive choices to approximate the aroma profile. The discussion emphasizes that this is a creative, collaborative endeavor between science and perfumery, rather than a claim of exact replication. The final composition aims to educate and inspire, helping visitors imagine how the embalmed body might have smelled in ritual and daily contexts.

"I had all the list of the raw materials, and for each one I try to see if I can find it in the perfumery field today, and then I compose the scent with the materials I can source." - Carol Calvey

Museum Experience and Emotional Impact

The scientists discuss how scents are delivered to visitors in a museum setting. They describe scent cards produced through scent printing, which infuse a card with the recreated perfume and allow visitors in a room with canopic jars and mummies to open a cartridge and experience the aroma. This ambient scent simulates an embalming workshop and is designed to evoke an immersive, memory-laden experience. Kathleen emphasizes that odor triggers memory and emotion, creating a shared, embodied experience with the past. The panel explains that smells can connect visitors to history on an emotional level, complementing visuals and texts with an additional sensory dimension that enhances learning and empathy with ancient experiences.

"Smell adds this emotional layer because it is so closely connected to memory and emotion in the brain." - Kathleen Davis

Perfumes, Status, and Power in the Ancient World

The conversation turns to the social and political dimensions of ancient perfumes. The guests discuss how fragrances were not only personal adornments but also markers of elite status. They reference classical sources that describe imported resins such as frankincense and myrrh as luxury commodities that signaled wealth and power, sometimes fueling conflicts over control of spice trade. They note that many scents were exotic and expensive to obtain, underscoring how fragrance use reflected social hierarchy and political influence in ancient civilizations, including Egypt and Rome. The historical thread shows that scent can illuminate power dynamics, ritual authority, and intercultural connections across vast distances.

"Perfumes were markers of elite status, and the substances used were often imported from far away, signaling access to power and wealth." - Kathleen Davis

Conclusion

The episode closes by reiterating that reconstructing ancient scents is an educational and experiential tool. It enables people to engage with history beyond reading and seeing, offering a multisensory doorway into the past. The collaboration between science and perfumery demonstrates how smell can enrich our understanding of ancient life, trade networks, rituals, and social structures, while acknowledging that the aroma may never be a perfect replica of what ancient people actually smelled. The presenters encourage curiosity and thoughtful questioning about how we interpret scent data from the distant past.

"Perfumes were not just about smell but about power, ritual, and connectivity across civilizations." - Barbara Huber