[00:00.00]A recent study about the smell of Egyptian mummies reached some surprising findings.
[00:08.59]The ancient bodies did not smell bad, the researchers found. Instead, they say, the remains mostly smelled good.
[00:21.54]Cecilia Bembibre is director of research at University College London's Institute for Sustainable Heritage.
[00:31.58]"In films and books, terrible things happen to those who smell mummified bodies," she said.
[00:39.51]"We were surprised at the pleasantness of them."
[00:43.04]The researchers reported the leading descriptions of the smells as "woody," "spicy" and "sweet."
[00:52.68]They also reported a floral or flowery smell.
[00:57.85]That smell could be from pine and juniper resins used in mummification; a process designed to protect the body from decay.
[01:09.79]The study appeared recently in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
[01:16.58]It used both chemical examinations and several human smellers to study nine mummies.
[01:25.51]The mummies, some around 5,000 years old, had been housed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
[01:35.06]Bembibre, one of the report's writers, said the researchers wanted to study the smell of mummies because it has long been a subject of interest for the public and researchers alike.
[01:51.21]She added that even fiction writers have written pages of work on the subject - for good reason.
[01:59.90]Scent, or smell, was an important consideration in the mummification process.
[02:07.78]This process used oils and plant-based materials to protect the body and its spirit for the afterlife.
[02:17.35]Mummification was largely used for powerful people such as pharaohs and other leaders.
[02:25.69]Pleasant smells were linked with purity and gods.
[02:30.79]Bad smells were signs of corruption and decay.
[02:35.73]Researchers did not want to directly measure the mummies, because doing so might be damaging.
[02:44.00]Instead, researchers were able to take measurements that did not involve touching the mummies.
[02:52.34]Researchers from UCL and the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia were able to measure smells, pesticides, and other effects due to mold, bacteria or microorganisms.
[03:09.70]Using technical instruments to measure air molecules released from sarcophagi was very important, said Matija Strlič, a chemistry professor at the University of Ljubljana.
[03:25.62]"It tells us potentially what social class a mummy was from and therefore reveals a lot of information about the mummified body...." he said.
[03:38.75]"We believe that this approach is potentially of huge interest to other types of museum collections."
[03:46.93]Barbara Huber of the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Germany was not involved in the study.
[03:56.77]Huber said the findings provide important data on compounds that could preserve or damage mummified remains.
[04:06.55]The information could be used to better protect the ancient bodies for future generations.
[04:15.36]Huber said that over thousands of years, differing conditions have changed the scents of the mummies in a major way.
[04:25.74]Huber wrote a study two years ago that examined a jar that had contained mummified organs of a woman.
[04:35.49]The goal was to identify the material used to preserve the organs and what that would show about ancient trade paths.
[04:46.50]Researchers of the current study hope to do something similar.
[04:51.91]They want to use their findings to develop "smellscapes" to recreate the scents they discovered.
[05:00.00]They also want to change the experience for future museumgoers.
[05:06.31]Bembibre said museums generally ask visitors to experience everything with their eyes.
[05:14.08]She added that seeing mummies through "a glass case reduces the experience because we don't get to smell them."
[05:23.29]Smelling the scents of mummification would improve the museum visitors' experiences, she suggested, as smell is one of the ways that people understand the world.
[05:38.35]I'm John Russell.
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Words in This Story
mummy - n. an ancient body treated for burial with preservatives
resin - n. natural organic substances that are usually transparent or translucent and yellowish to brown in color and are often made from plant materials; they are also soluble in organic solvents but not in water, are electrical nonconductors, and are used to cover and protect surfaces
decay - n. to go through or cause to go through decomposition
fiction - n. something invented by the imagination
museum - n. a place devoted to the care, study, and display of objects of interest, importance or value
sarcophagus - n. an ancient container used for holding human remains
potentially - adv. possibly
reveal - v. to show plainly
approach - n. a way of dealing with something
preserve - v. to keep in a good state or condition
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