Researchers Use Chemical Examinations and Human Smell to Study Ancient Remains

01A recent study about the smell of Egyptian mummies reached some surprising findings.

02The ancient bodies did not smell bad, the researchers found.

03Instead, they say, the remains mostly smelled good.

04Cecilia Bembibre is director of research at University College London's Institute for Sustainable Heritage.

05In films and books, terrible things happen to those who smell mummified bodies, she said.

06We were surprised at the pleasantness of them.

07The researchers reported the leading descriptions of the smells as woody, spicy, and sweet.

08They also reported a floral or flowery smell.

09That smell could be from pine and juniper resins used in mummification, a process designed to protect the body from decay.

10The study appeared recently in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

11It used both chemical examinations and several human smellers to study nine mummies.

12The mummies, some around 5,000 years old, had been housed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

13Bembibre, 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.

14She added that even fiction writers have written pages of work on the subject for good reason.

15Scent or smell was an important consideration in the mummification process.

16This process used oils and plant-based materials to protect the body and its spirit for the afterlife.

17Mummification was largely used for powerful people such as pharaohs and other leaders.

18Pleasant smells were linked with purity and gods.

19Bad smells were signs of corruption and decay.

20Researchers did not want to directly measure the mummies because doing so might be damaging.

21Instead, researchers were able to take measurements that did not involve touching the mummies.

22Researchers from UCL and the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia were able to measure smells, pesticides, and other effects due to mould, bacteria, or microorganisms.

23Using technical instruments to measure air molecules released from sarcophagi was very important, said Matias Sturlic, a chemistry professor at the University of Ljubljana.

24It tells us potentially what social class a mummy was from, and therefore reveals a lot of information about the mummified body, he said.

25We believe that this approach is potentially of huge interest to other types of museum collections.

26Barbara Huber of the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Germany was not involved in the study.

27Huber said the findings provide important data on compounds that could preserve or damage mummified remains.

28The information could be used to better protect the ancient bodies for future generations.

29Huber said that over thousands of years, differing conditions have changed the scents of the mummies in a major way.

30Huber wrote a study two years ago that examined a jar that had contained mummified organs of a woman.

31The goal was to identify the material used to preserve the organs and what that would show about ancient trade paths.

32Researchers of the current study hope to do something similar.

33They want to use their findings to develop smellscapes to recreate the scents they discovered.

34They also want to change the experience for future museum goers.

35Bembibre said museums generally ask visitors to experience everything with their eyes.

36She added that seeing mummies through a glass case reduces the experience because we don't get to smell them.

37Smelling the scents of mummification would improve the museum visitors' experiences, she suggested, as smell is one of the ways that people understand the world.

38I'm John Russell.

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