A research team from the University of Ljubljana and the Egyptian Museum of Cairo is a winner of the 2025 Gizmodo Science Fair for reproducing the smell of mummies, offering a new window into Ancient Egyptian life, beliefs, and funerary customs.
The question
What did mummies smell like during the embalming process, and what can these aromas tell us about Ancient Egyptian customs?
The result
The recreated aroma blends notes of aged linen, pine resin, and citrus oils, with hints of natural pest repellents. Surprisingly, the overall effect is warm and calming—a remarkably pleasant fragrance for a funerary ritual dating back thousands of years.
The team characterized the smells in two ways. First, some of the molecules were brought to the lab and analyzed with gas chromatography. The researchers found a wide array of volatiles, most associated with materials known to be used in mummification, such as plant oils or resin. Others were likely linked to more natural processes, such as the wooden material of the sarcophagus or the products of decomposed bodies. They also identified molecules that could be traced to pest repellents and preservatives used by archaeologists and museum conservators.
The team also brought in a panel of trained “sniffers” to describe the smells directly, using only their noses. The list included descriptors like “woody,” “spicy,” “sweet,” and “sour.” Each sniffer had slightly different ideas of what the smells represented, but all of them noted the woodiness of the mummies.
Why they did it
Smell is ephemeral. Chemically speaking, the molecular structures that cause things to smell eventually decompose. For ancient artifacts, even if the smell is preserved, it’s often overwritten by the various preservatives used to keep the object intact.
How problematic this is really depends on what’s being examined. But it’s certainly an issue for some artifacts or practices “whose purpose was mainly to have a smell, like a perfume flask or incense burner,” said Emma Paolin, a postdoctoral student at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia specializing in the smell of heritage objects.
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