The residue of the fragrance, discovered in 2019 throughout a historical intervention in a mausoleum discovered during the building and construction of a home on the Calle Sevillat, had been protected, strengthened, inside a vessel sculpted in quartz, which was still completely sealed. As Román discusses, it was a cumulative burial place, potentially belonging to an upscale household, and in which, in addition to numerous things related to funeral routines (offerings and trousseaus), the cinerary urns of 6 adult people– three females and 3 guys– were discovered.
In among the urns, made from glass, over the cremated skeletal remains of the departed (in this case a lady between 30 and 40 years old) a cloth bag had actually been placed (remains of it having actually been maintained) containing 3 amber beads and a little rock crystal (hyaline quartz) flask, carved in the shape of an amphora, including ointment.
Fragrance containers utilized to be made from blown glass and, on really unusual events, examples have been discovered made of this product which, owing to its qualities and difficult carving, due to its firmness, made them very costly and very valuable. In addition to the originality of the receptacle, the genuinely amazing aspect of the find was that it was completely sealed which the solid residues of the perfume had been protected inside, that made it possible to perform this study.
Ruiz Arrebola worries that the use of dolomite, a type of carbon, as a stopper, and the bitumen used to seal it, were the essential to the magnificent state of conservation of the piece and its contents.
To establish what the perfume was made from, various important strategies were used, such as X-ray diffraction and gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry, amongst others. According to Ruiz, from the analyses it has actually been possible to identify that the little round stopper was made of dolomite (limestone), and that bitumen was utilized for its perfect fit and airtight seal.
With regard to the fragrance, two parts have actually been recognized: a base or binder, which permitted for the conservation of the aromas, and the essence itself, these findings according with descriptions by none aside from Pliny the Elder. In this case, the base was a veggie oil; perhaps, according to some signs shown in the analysis, olive oil, although this point might not be validated with certainty.
And the essence?
According to the results of chemical analyses performed by the University of Cordoba, Rome gave off patchouli, a necessary oilobtained from a plant of Indian origin, Pogostemon cablin, widely used in contemporary perfumery, and whose usein Roman times was not understood. The monumental attributes of the tomb where it was found and, above all, the material of which the vessel containing it was made, recommend that it was an extremely valuable item.
This study constitutesa development in the field of Roman perfumery and as regards using patchouli as an important oil. Additional research studies are currently being performed on other special products (such as amber, fabrics, and pigments utilized in the wall paintings) preserved in the Carmona mausoleum.
Referral: “Archaeometric Identification of a Perfume from Roman Times” by Daniel Cosano, Juan Manuel Román, Fernando Lafont and José Rafael Ruiz Arrebola, 23 May 2023, Heritage.DOI: 10.3390/ heritage6060236.
Researchers from the University of Cordoba have, for the very first time, recognized the elements of a 2,000-year-old Roman fragrance found in a sealed vessel in Carmona, Spain. Chemical analysis exposed that the fragrance, found in a wealthy households mausoleum, was based upon olive oil and consisted of patchouli, an Indian-origin scent formerly unknown in Roman times. Credit: University of Córdoba
A little vessel of lotion discovered in a funerary urn from the ancient Roman city of Carmo, contemporary Carmona in Seville province, has actually allowed a research study team from the University of Cordoba to chemically unravel the composition of a perfume that goes back to the first century advertisement.
This ground-breaking research, carried out by the FQM346 team led by Professor of Organic Chemistry José Rafael Ruiz Arrebola in collaboration with the City of Carmona, marks the very first time the composition of a Roman fragrance over 2,000 years of ages has actually been recognized.
The outcomes were published in the Swiss clinical journal Heritage in a post in which Ruiz Arrebola, the municipal archaeologist of Carmona, Juan Manuel Román; and UCO researchers Daniel Cosano and Fernando Lafontshare the entire technical and clinical process allowing the world to” smell” the bygone Roman Empire.