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Phoenician Colonists Traveled with the Scents of Home
Archaeology Magazine ^ | August 27, 2025 | editors / unattributed

Posted on 09/03/2025 8:30:06 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

As Phoenician sailors ventured into the waters of the western Mediterranean Sea to establish new settlements in the early first millennium b.c., they deliberately brought the familiar scents of home with them, according to a statement issued by the University of Tübingen. Researchers from the University of Tübingen and the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) recently analyzed more than 50 miniature ceramic vessels found in ancient tombs, houses, and sacred areas at a Phoenician site on the island of Motya, off the west coast of Sicily. The study determined that all had been made in southern Phoenicia, near present-day Beirut, between the eighth and sixth century b.c. Organic residues were detected in eight of the vessels, revealing traces of plant-based lipids as well as pine and mastic resin, which are strong indicators of fragrant oil preparations. Archaeologists now believe that the small jars were used to transport perfumes and aromatic oils that helped serve as reminders of their homeland and helped to reinforce Phoenician identity for settlers who lived in far-off places. "Scent is intimately tied to identity," said UCM archaeologist Adriano Orsingher. "As such, it plays a crucial, though often overlooked, role in processes of migration, settlement, and cultural exchange." Read the original scholarly article about this research in Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. To read about censers found at an ancient oasis settlement in Saudi Arabia in which people burned a plant with known psychoactive properties, go to "Ancient Air Freshener."

(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: agriculture; ancientnavigation; ancientoils; aromatherapy; aromaticoils; fragrantoils; godsgravesglyphs; motya; phoenicians; sicily; sunkenciv; trade

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Phoenician oil bottles
A. Orsingher
A. Orsingher

1 posted on 09/03/2025 8:30:06 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...
Yo ho, yo ho, t'was the perfumed life for them.

2 posted on 09/03/2025 8:31:37 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (NeverTrumpin' -- it's not just for DNC shills anymore -- oh, wait, yeah it is.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Scents and sensibility......................


3 posted on 09/03/2025 8:36:35 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: SunkenCiv

Scents and sensibility......................


4 posted on 09/03/2025 8:36:35 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: SunkenCiv

I don’t want some of my scents from home to travel with me. Neither does my wife.


5 posted on 09/03/2025 8:50:43 AM PDT by crusty old prospector
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To: crusty old prospector

Makes scents..................


6 posted on 09/03/2025 8:53:07 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: SunkenCiv
Not unlike the America pioneers...


7 posted on 09/03/2025 8:56:00 AM PDT by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
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To: crusty old prospector

Yeah, we old guys can really clear a room.


8 posted on 09/03/2025 9:03:30 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: SunkenCiv

Phoenicians really had a good scents of direction...........


9 posted on 09/03/2025 9:08:46 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: GingisK; SunkenCiv

My husband had that problem, but eating yogurt cured it. He told me once he was visiting a friend in his shed. They were surrounded with his pack of hounds. My husband let out a big one and all the dogs jumped up and ran out of the shed. He asked his friends why the dogs did that. He laughed and said, “whenever one of them farts, I chase them all outside.”


10 posted on 09/03/2025 9:16:28 AM PDT by gleeaikin (Question Authority: report facts, and post their links.)
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To: gleeaikin; SunkenCiv
...had that problem, but eating yogurt cured it...

Some of us might not consider that a problem. There could be pride involved.

11 posted on 09/03/2025 10:15:13 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: Red Badger

They run on beans. They run on laser beans.


12 posted on 09/03/2025 10:55:49 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (NeverTrumpin' -- it's not just for DNC shills anymore -- oh, wait, yeah it is.)
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To: GingisK

There might not be a problem in the company of men, but most of the time there would be with women. Except for the ones who run with motorcycle gangs.


13 posted on 09/03/2025 12:33:43 PM PDT by gleeaikin (Question Authority: report facts, and post their links.)
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To: gleeaikin

Or perhaps beautiful Viking women. ;-D


14 posted on 09/03/2025 1:31:01 PM PDT by GingisK
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To: SunkenCiv

When in Aroma, do as the Aromans do...


15 posted on 09/03/2025 1:33:20 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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