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Just as people use the finest ingredients available to manufacture perfumes and aromatic substances today, exotic resins and oilsfrom plant flowers and stems created a wealth of scents in ancient times. Pharaonic voyages to Punt on the Red Sea sought frankincense and myrrh. Ancient Egyptian poetry from the time of the pharaoh Tutankhamen opens a window into perceptions of perfumes and their power, and a ship that wrecked off the southern coast of Turkey offers up physical evidence of the importance of trade in aromatics at that time. Mycenaean palace bookkeepers, the writings of ancient naturalists, and even Egyptian love poetry bring us into the ancient world world, where simple techniques still practiced in the finest perfumeries transformed plants and plant products into gateways to paradise.
Anna Marguerite McCann and Robert D. Taggart Lectureship in Underwater Archaeology
The AIA is North America's largest and oldest nonprofit organization dedicated to archaeology. The Institute advances awareness, education, fieldwork, preservation, publication, and research of archaeological sites and cultural heritage throughout the world. Your contribution makes a difference.
