Soon, visitors to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo will be able to catch a whiff of humans who died thousands of years ago. A new study in the Journal of the American Chemical Society suggests they might be pleasantly surprised. Researchers extracted scents from inside the sarcophagi of nine mummies embalmed up to 5,000 years ago and came away with descriptors such as "woody," "sweet," and "spicy," reports the BBC. They now plan to recreate the scents chemically so museum visitors can smell for themselves.
"In films and books, terrible things happen to those who smell mummified bodies," Cecilia Bembibre, director of research at University College London, tells the AP. "We were surprised at the pleasantness of them." The scientists didn't open up the sarcophagi to figure this out. Instead, they borrowed a trick used by those who collect aromas from flowers, notes Smithsonian Magazine. They inserted a small tube that traps odor molecules, which get released later for chemical analysis.
The aromas varied from mummy to mummy, possibly because some were wealthier and could afford better embalmers. A few did indeed have "stale, rancid" notes, reports the Guardian. But others gave off hints of incense, and even tea. "Some smells were really familiar," says Bembibre. Further study is expected to shed more light on the mummification process, and possibly offer lessons for modern embalmers. (More mummies stories.)
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