Visiting a museum could soon be a truly multisensory experience—smells included. Thanks to recent advances in the field of biomolecular archeology, scientists can now detect traces of molecular fingerprints on ancient artifacts. From these tiny particles, scientists can determine how the objects may have smelled. And smell can lead to better understanding of medicine, rituals, and daily lives in general from thousands of years ago.
A new paper published today in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology shows how museums can harness the power of molecular evidence and tap into the sensory world of the past. Based on actual molecular findings from ancient artifacts, the team built portable scent cards and scent diffusers to accompany Egyptian mummification exhibits.
“This research represents a significant shift in how scientific results can be shared beyond academic publications,” Barbara Huber, a study co-author and an archaeo-chemist from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and the University of Tübingen in Germany, said in a statement.
Huber worked with Sofia Collette Ehrich, an art historian and expert in scent-based storytelling to bring together the worlds of ancient chemistry and the study of how perfume can communicate through smells.
Perfumer and pharmacist Carole Calvez then used ancient chemical signatures from Huber’s research to create a scent for a potential exhibit. Importantly, Calvez says that this process is not a simple act of replication.
“The real challenge lies in imagining the scent as a whole,” Calvez explained in a statement. “Biomolecular data provide essential clues, but the perfumer must translate chemical information into a complete and coherent olfactory experience that evokes the complexity of the original material, rather than just its individual components.”
The team then developed two ways to present ancient scents to the public. Alongside the artifacts that inspired this project, the team recreated the aromas of mummification in ancient Egypt. A portable scented card and a fixed scent diffusion station were worked into an exhibition at the Museum August Kestner in Hanover, Germany.
“Scent provides a new approach to mummification, moving away from the scare factor and horror movie clichés towards an appreciation of the motivations behind the actions and the desired results,” curators Christian E. Loeben and Ulrike Dubiel reported.
The fixed scent station format was also installed in the exhibition at the Moesgaard Museum in Aarhus, Denmark.
“The scent station transformed how visitors understood embalming,” said curator Steffen Terp Laursen. “Smell added an emotional and sensory depth that text labels alone could never provide.”
According to the team, this shows how molecular traces of the past can be made into meaningful cultural experiences in the present.
“We hope to offer museums compelling new tools for bringing visitors closer to past environments and practices via sensory interpretation and engagement,” Ehrich concluded.
