The researchers take a whiff of ancient Egyptian mummistic remains: “We were surprised by the pleasure.”

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Initially, it seems disgusting: inhaled Jawhar The old corpse.

But the researchers who indulged their curiosity in the name of science found that preserving it well Egyptian mummies Indeed, a very good smell.

“In movies and books, terrible things happen to those who shattered the bodies of their cultivation,” said Cecilia Pimpeber, Director of Research at the Sustainable Heritage Institute at College University in London. “We were surprised by their pleasure.”

“Woody”, “hot” and “sweet” were the leading recipes than what seemed to taste wine more than inhaling the mummy. Flowers’ notes have also been discovered, which can be a pine and juniper resins used in embalming.

Britain's smell of mummy
In this unknown image presented by Emma Paulin, a view of a selection of mummified bodies in the exhibition area of ​​the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Emma Paulin / AP


The study was used on Thursday in the Journal of the American Chemical Society alike, chemical analysis and a committee of human irony to evaluate the smells of nine mummies of up to 5,000 years that were either in storage or displayed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

The researchers wanted to study the smell of the smell systematically Mummies Bimpeber, one of the authors of the report, said that he has long been the subject of magic for the public and researchers alike. Archaeologists, historians, conservatives, and even fictional book have devoted pages of their work to the subject – for a good reason.

The smell was important in the embalming process, which used oils, wax and analgesics to preserve the body and its soul for the hereafter. The practice has been largely booked Pharaohs and nobles. The pleasant smells were associated with purity and deities, while bad smells were signs of corruption and degradation.

Without sampling The mummies themselvesWhich will be invasive, researchers from the University of California and the University of Liopulliana in Slovenia were able to measure whether the fees are coming from the archaeological element, pesticides or other products used to maintain remains, or from deterioration due to mold, bacteria or microorganisms.

Britain's smell of mummy
In this unknown photo presented by Abdel -Alawala, Emma Paolin, a doctoral student at Ljubljana University, she takes samples of active air with tubes and pumps.

Abdelrazek elnaggar / AP


“We were very concerned that we might find notes or hints from the decomposing bodies, and this was not.” “We were specifically worried that there may be indications of the deterioration of microbes, but this was not the case, which means that the environment in this museum is in fact very good in terms of preserving it.”

Using technical tools to measure the air particles and their measurement from the coffin to determine the condition of preserving them without Touching mummies It was like the holy cup.

He said: “He probably tells us what the mummy of the social class was, and thus reveals a lot of information about the relevant stuffed body not only for the conservatives, but also for the values ​​and archaeologists.” “We believe this approach is likely to have great importance to other types of museums.”

Parbra Huber, post -doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Geo, said. Maintaining or analyzing stuffed residue. Information can be used to better protect old bodies for future generations.

Britain's smell of mummy
In this unknown image presented by Emma Pauline, offered to take negative samples using SPME fibers from the air inside the coffin.

Emma Paulin / AP


“However, the research also emphasizes the main challenge: the smells that have been discovered today are not necessarily those that date back to embalming,” said Hopper. “For thousands of years, you changed evaporation, oxidation, and even significant storage conditions.

Huber authored a study two years ago that analyzed the remains of a jar containing stuffed organs from a noble woman to determine the components of embalming, their origins and what they revealed on trade methods. Then I worked with a perfume to create an explanation for the scent of embalming, known as “the smell of eternity”, for an exhibition at the MOSGAARD ​​Museum in Denmark.

Current study researchers hope to do something similar, using their findings to develop the “smell” to re -create the scents they discovered artificially and enhance the experience of museums in the future.

“Museums have been named in white cubes, where you are asked to read, see, and approach everything from a distance with your eyes,” said Pimbury. “The monitoring of mummified objects through a glass can reduce the experience because we cannot smell them. We do not know the embarrassment process in an experimental way, which is one of the ways we understand and interact with the world.”



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