Sniff a Mummy

Scientists capture ancient Egyptian mummies' scents

- Gayoung Lee

IF YOU WERE ASKED to describe the scent emanating from an ancient Egyptian mummy like you'd discuss a high-end perfume or the bouquet of a fine wine, you might mention fragrance notes of old linen, pine resin and citrus oils-with just a whiff of pest repellent.

These vivid comparisons stem from a new laboratory analysis of nine mummies from various social classes and historical periods, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Researchers from Slovenia, England, Poland and Egypt collaborated with the Egyptian Museum in Cairo to identify more than 70 unique compounds from air samples taken around each mummy. The samples were chemically analyzed and also presented to specially trained human "sniffers," who were asked to describe them with sensory adjectives.

The scientists vetted each candidate mummy to obtain a wide range of smells, says study co-author Abdelrazek Elnaggar of the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia.