Place where the ointment where found.Photo: University of Córdoba
Posted on 05/27/2023 2:25:27 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
...in 2019 during the renovation of a structure in the Carmona municipality of Seville... a mausoleum from 2,000 years ago with eight niches... had never been looted. The remains of six members of a wealthy family were interred in the communal grave. And there were various offerings on them, one of which was a quartz container with “a solid mass inside.” They belonged to the niche of a woman in her 40s...
One of the amphora’s unique features is that it was carved in quartz, a very hard, resistant, and unusual material...
...Professor of Organic Chemistry José Rafael Ruiz Arrebola... stresses that the use of dolomite, a type of carbon, as a stopper, and the bitumen used to seal it, were the key to the magnificent state of preservation of the piece and its contents.
Researchers to ascertain what the perfume was made of, different instrumental techniques were used, such as X-ray diffraction and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, among others.
With respect to the perfume, two components have been identified: a base or binder, which allowed for the preservation of the aromas, and the essence itself, these findings according with descriptions by none other than Pliny the Elder. In this case, the base was a vegetable oil; possibly, according to some indications reflected in the analysis, olive oil, although this point could not be confirmed with certainty.
According to the results of chemical analyses carried out by the University of Cordoba, Rome smelled of patchouli, an essential oil obtained from a plant of Indian origin, Pogostemon cablin, widely used in modern perfumery, and whose use in Roman times was not known..
(Excerpt) Read more at arkeonews.net ...
Place where the ointment where found.Photo: University of Córdoba
Just having free public baths wasn't gettin' it done...
So Helen Thomas wore it?
So Roman women smelled like Hippy Chicks! Cool!
They looted a 2000 year old hippies grave.
And now we know what really lead to the fall of Rome.
Eau de freshly held chamber pots
I’ll bet there were all kinds of ‘fumes in there.
I came, I saw, I smelled
By baths, you mean public stew pots, right?
To verify the research, they later scent an expert who claimed he nose a lot on the topic.
Maybe he was hoping to get out for some fresh air, not wanting to be stuck in the olfactory.
There’s an old leper joke bobbin’ to the surface...
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