The 5,000-Year-Old Mystery of Ancient Egyptian Perfume

[@caseyleichter2309]

"Life is great! Let's have more of it after we die!" is a terrific cultural attitude, much better than most of today's prevailing theologies.

[@Psilomuscimol]

I think when we die time dilates so much that we are stuck in consciousness what seems like forever. Maybe like 5-meo dmt

[@amazinggrapes3045]

Most of today's prevailing theologies.... are also just like that

[@SorieI]

​@@amazinggrapes3045 examples of modern religions where the afterlife isn't better than life?

[@malaikamillions]

I love this host’s exuberance and wit. Always a charming delivery.

[@ameliadodger7019]

I'm taking AP Chem right now, and it's so neat to see the approaches talked about in the classroom in real-life scenarios and applications!

[@Gibsothian]

You should take an analytical chemistry class in college!! When I took one we got to actually use some of the techniques in this video!

[@blairbug]

My archeology professor gave us a recipe and directions on how to mummify in our Egyptology class. We didn’t go into super specifics but I remember natron salt and scented oils.

[@joneske1992]

"The scent will be ‘on display’ as part of an immersive exhibition at Moesgaard Museum in Denmark" Moesgaard Museum is near Aarhus, almost 200 km from Copenhagen, but you are always welcome here

[@ajchapeliere]

If I may ask: is there an international airport closer to the museum than Copenhagen?

[@IrisGlowingBlue]

+

[@CaedmonOS]

It's really sweet that the scientists decided that they needed to get the mummy back in there original coffin.

[@clogs4956]

Considering how many were rescued from tomb robbers and popped/crammed into vacant coffins by Egyptian priests back in the day, it is rather sweet, isn’t it?

[@zackmarkham4240]

According to a couple guys who mummified a chicken the way ancient egyptians did as close to what is known scientifically possible and known, just to eat it, it smells pretty good.

[@phileas007]

link pls

[@CybeargPlays]

@@phileas007 kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJPLh2OKhZidmdEsi=Ie8hL_TrXK4KGyQX

[@istnuk1994]

@@phileas007 kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJPLh2OKhZidmdE

[@SirAndischa]

​@@phileas007"Thought emporium mummy"

[@MalharetasLair]

@@phileas007 youtube doesn't like those so just search 'thought emporium' and you'll find the vid

[@AwakeAtTheWheel]

It’s distresses to think about all the mummies that were burned as firewood for steam engines, or ground up into powder for Victorian medicines. What a loss.

[@DaydreamingSophie]

I never heard about mummies being used for fuel so I looked it up just now and from what I've gathered it seems the source of that was Mark Twain who told it as a joke. It's awful he did that. Grounding mummies into medicine seems to me very macabre and wasteful but the Victorians were a weird lot.

[@johnnyearp52]

Did Europeans eat mummies as well?

[@Allycat101010]

Yes- -and painted with them.@@johnnyearp52

[@clogs4956]

The poorer locals had been digging up poorer-class mummies for fuel and lighting for absolute centuries prior to Europeans getting involved. ‘Mummy’ (Latin mumia/Arabic mumiya) is asphalt/bitumen, and signifies a waxy substance; used as medicine, it referred to this substance and did not include actual human remains; the Egyptian mummies on show in apothecaries were… for show.

[@sheepketchup9059]

​@@clogs4956 they don't actually eat it?

[@piman13_71]

You should have consulted the FOREMOST in this field, The Thought Emporium. He recently made a mummified chicken… And tasted the incense and other mixtures of the process. I think he would have loved to give input if not do a cross over 😂

[@PendragonDaGreat]

I was thinking the same. My papyrus print with the ikea-like instructions just came in the mail a few minutes before I saw this vid too.

[@oracleofdelphi4533]

Wow, that's much more thought out than my guess: "Teen Spirit"

[@InsertHandleHere968]

Yes! And they are writing a scientific paper on it too!

[@SFELNMOD]

You beat me to it, THIS

[@Gwallacec2]

I was just about to say this!!!

[@stevensines7026]

It's very possible that the cedar variety came from Lebanon. Those were famous and all but sacred in the Middle East throughout antiquity.

[@drdarrylschroeder5691]

Hello - The ultimate is the Egyptian Lotus Perfume. A masterpiece of the perfumer's art. Pure magic.

[@airplayn]

Brought back my memories of using this equipment in the 70's. My Finnegan GC-MS was a new technique at the time.

[@MadDragon75]

What are the odds? I was just watching a short of Nile Red, a popular KZbin chemist, sniffing a chemical that Is supposed to resemble old people.😅 He said it smells like cucumbers. 😁

[@johnnyearp52]

Old people do have a smell but I personally don't think it is anything like cucumbers.

[@derelictxci]

Vinegar and Tiger Balm.

[@dai-ut5zl]

immortality smells like old spice😂 just like their ads

[@marieilbergjacobsen3061]

You need to get to Aarhus to smell the resin. And it smells rather good. It's at Moesgaard Museum. You'll also get to see a real bog mommy.

Imagine being immortal and then being sent to a life sentence.

[@KeyserSose269]

If you could somehow prove it, wouldn’t that be cruel and unusual punishment?

[@Styxswimmer]

That's actually the idea behind a twilight zone episode. A man becomes invincible, commits a crime trying to get the electric chair but gets a life sentence. He then begs death itself to take him

[@nathanielwilding3779]

That's dark

[@KeyserSose269]

@@Styxswimmer I don’t recall seeing that episode, but then, there’s a fine line between a memory and a dream.

[@KeyserSose269]

@@nathanielwilding3779 we all have a shadow, my friend.

[@AngryKittens]

5:17 Austronesians sailed to East Africa from like 1500 BC and established the trade links that would become the Spice Trade later on. They literally colonized Madagascar. Yet people always seem to forget that. They always put greater importance on Egyptian, Arab, Greek, Indian, and even Chinese ships, when a lot of these ships developed much later than Austronesian ships, and some are likely derived from them. To put it in simpler terms: it wasn't Egyptians who sailed to Southeast Asia. It was Southeast Asians who sailed to Egypt (and to Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia, besides).

[@nunyabiznes33]

Yeah. If the Egyptians were regularly visiting SEA, there would have been more artifacts to show that.

[@johnnyearp52]

Good point.

[@EMBer3000]

I wonder... it is possible to dissolve pine resin in denatured alcohol. Pine resin allowed to dry forms Amber. What if when you died you got embalmed and then submerged in dissolved pine resin that is then allowed to dry. Would you get a person encased in amber?

[@robertfindley921]

Fourier is pronounced as the French do, with a silent 'r' at the end. It's named after its founder Jean Baptiste Fourier, an 18th/19th century French mathematician who had amazing discoveries used today in digital video, audio, signal processing, etc. He also chaired the committee that came up with the Metric System. One of the greatest minds of all time.

[@ladycake1515]

The French are probably wrong tbh😊

[@FerShibli]

You missed the opportunity to title this video Smells Like a Immortal Spirit 😂😂😂

[@annefoley6950]

I love that in the history of funerary techniques, pretty much *everyone* is super secretive and cagey with their embalming chemistry XD

[@OGCURLY99]

Chanel No. 1

[@ToallpointsWest]

Okay I'll bite. Where the hell did they get pine trees in Egypt?

[@oscarcacnio8418]

... I'm guessing trade? I dunno with whom?

[@codename495]

Aristocracy of the dynastic Egyptian world would import pine and cedar seed from Syria and grow them in their gardens.

[@brucecoppola8512]

Lebanon has been famed for its cedars for millennia, and it's not far from Egypt.

[@North_West1]

I question I never thought to ask. Good question.

[@pRODIGAL_sKEPTIC]

I imagine the mummies who end up in museums would be pretty psyched about being found & preserved even longer lol

[@bbbenj]

Very interesting 👍

[@Magmafrost13]

I wonder if there's some survivorship bias going on with mummies, in that we dont see as many poorly mummified bodies because they just didnt survive. I guess its hard to say when the British ate most of the mummies we did have.

[@amazinggrapes3045]

I still can't get over that people were just straight up eating mummified human flesh because someone got the idea that it was medicinal into their head Musta been the opium dens, IDK

[@Hypatia52]

This was one of the most engaging vids you guys have done. I've been interested in this ever since I saw the big King Tut exhibit back when I was at uni. Thanks!

[@lakrids-pibe]

Unraveling the mysteries of ancient egyptian mummification? Plase!

[@masterimbecile]

Thought Emporium did a video where they tasted their own home made mummy!

[@koenraadhendricus]

This title is so good I decided to watch

[@SilentKaliSmoker]

Do we think that Egyptians might have mummified the dead, and at some later time checked on the bodies to see how they were doing and adjusting their formulas to be better over time? Like how would they know that what they were doing was preserving the dead as they wanted and not just destroying them?

[@MrMaddy1959]

@thethoughtemporium did a great job of mummifying a chicken

[@monk607]

I'd love to see that research paper in 1000 years when it's rediscovered lol

[@andiralosh2173]

Call me weird but I would like to learn more about preservation BEFORE death, though being a magical mummy might be fun IDK

[@codename495]

So, your immune system? That’s the pre-death preservation method.

[@Hypatia52]

Don't drink alcohol, don't smoke anything--your lungs aren't made to deal with particulate matter of any kind. Wear sunscreen or better yet, clothes to protect especially your face from the sun. If you are pale & white 15 minutes of sun a day will give you all the vitamin D you need. Exercise 45 minutes a day--try to find a variety of things you enjoy doing. Keep your brain active, eat you veggies and don't do stupid stuff like riding motorcycles, tight rope walking over concrete, etc. Use mass transit.. You should easily make 100+ with just that, barring a plague, war or famine coming back, of course and good luck.

[@malavoy1]

You could always stop half way and become a lich. 😁😁

[@andiralosh2173]

@@malavoy1 only if I can be a lich queen. I'm looking for more or a leadership role in the undead spirit economy

[@malavoy1]

@@andiralosh2173 Check with Blizzard, I think they have an opening. 😁

[@ashergoney]

Sandlewood Still Available In The Region As Important For Center Of Spice Trade In The Region.

[@garfieldisgod]

Actually; They "have found tombs recently with recipes of perfumes and balms" incised into the tomb walls.......I think some of the recipes have been used to make balms and perfumes which are being sold.........

[@jonatanromanowski9519]

Go Go Sci Show!

[@ianmangham4570]

Darn Egyptians cluttering the place up with huge stone structures 😅✌🤠

[@coreartalex6708]

Am I the only one who wanted a reference to 2006 Perfume: Story of a Murderer in this video??!! 🙋🏻‍♂️

[@itsrtvbaby]

I'm sitting here reflecting on why I was so attracted by the title of this video 😅

[@psyche7049]

Immortality would smell like everything because you would be alive to smell everything, but it would never be the complete smell because the universe goes on forever. So you could never actually smell immortality, only a portion of it.

[@ejonesss]

could gcms be modified to refine metals? instead of analyzing substances the components are separated by sending them down the tube and have tubes to capture the parts. only problem is that maybe the process happens so fast maybe on the order of hundreds of thousands of miles per second or the speed of light so it may not work as a separator. the reason that today we use synthesized substances to make perfumes and such is. 1. lots of money to be made from synthesized substances verses extracts. 2. we dont run afoul of the law if the extracts would come from illegal sources like marijuana or the plants that makes Ayahuasca.

[@joymatesamwa5206]

It's the Gas chrome for me😮

[@little_forest]

A big question also is: how did the egyptians knew what chemicals and techniques work best for mummifications? So the experts definitely had to make some tests and see, aka they had to have some experience of the outcome. How did they get that experience exactly… without destroying an existing grave?

[@Psilomuscimol]

Know.

[@Psilomuscimol]

They experimented with recent dead probably.

[@kellydalstok8900]

Sometimes graves were disturbed because the occupants fell out of grace. The ancient Egyptians believed that the soul couldn’t return to the body if it was unable to identify the body. So removing every object that made the body identifiable or even damaging the face was the punishment.

[@little_forest]

@@kellydalstok8900 I know, but that doesnt really answer the question... and I doubt that those few incidents could replace a proper research of some sort to find out what works and what doesnt.

[@johnnyearp52]

I am guessing that they practiced on animals. A lot of mummified cats have been found.

[@NoahSpurrier]

I’ve always been partial to teriyaki flavor.

[@IbKinHaan]

They knew what was most important after death: heart. ❤

[@hoosierpioneer]

But where can I learn what they thought the afterlife was, and why a dead preserved body was in the afterlife.

[@evilsharkey8954]

My workplace builds FTIR equipment. I’m not going to pretend I know how it works, though.

[@bobrashley5936]

I thought Scishow was above clickbait titles...

[@pamfranklin882]

Morbid curiosity brought me here.

[@JosephsDesign]

What does it smell like? Better question, what does it taste like? Can it be made into paint? Will it be used as a cure all snake oil? How many are really left undiscovered? If it’s immortality, it’s done at an incredible price, the price of becoming a museum prop for kids to laugh at or being turned into paint.

[@Psilomuscimol]

There's a video where they taste it. Look up mummified chicken. Forgot who it's by. But it's a very popular video.

[@johnnyearp52]

​@@Psilomuscimol I thought humans supposedly tasted more like pork. Maybe they should have mummified a pig?

[@LinthusOriginal]

You die twice. Once when your body perishes and the other when someone speaks about you for the last time. So all those rituals and things they did, actually gave them immortality, we always gonna have something to say about the weird things they did 😂

[@fr2ncm9]

Maybe it's just me, but opening tombs and examining dead people is a little ghoulish. If someone did that today we'd call them a grave robber.

[@Psilomuscimol]

In 1000 years we'll be dug up.

[@YuBeace]

That’s why the script specifically used the word “looted”. It’s not like these studies are snatching more bodies every time they are conducted.

[@Azguella]

You could also taste the immortality hundreds of years ago when people though it was good idea to eat them and use them in medicine

[@mindingmybusiness6309]

😮

[@North_West1]

Mummy brown paint color was made with actual mummy.

[@nasirdidiyaa8996]

Haye 😅

[@ianmangham4570]

😮

[@bgw33]

🎉

[@faenethlorhalien]

I'd say that if you're immortal and trapped in a coffin, it's probably gonna smell of pee, feces and rotten sweat.

[@pierreabbat6157]

Has anyone found Joseph's mummy? Or was he not mummified?

[@kellydalstok8900]

Did he actually exist? Is there extra biblical evidence?

[@Jay.B.2046]

👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@danielm.1441]

What Does Immortality Smell Like? Smells like teen spirit.

[@kellydalstok8900]

Teens do live like they think they’re immortal.

[@SwitzerlandEducation4471]

❤❤

[@1Source]

Persevered for us, to be removed from their tombs and are on display to see what immortality isn't.

[@mohamedfaroukelewa5905]

go to the red district or any brothel oh ... you mean immortality , not immorality

[@annekabrimhall1059]

I think you’re a little behind. They know almost all of the oils and resins.

[@matthewsermons7247]

No Cocaine? just kidding.

[@jrechebei]

Yay Savanah

[@michaelmasters7328]

Idk y I hate this host

[@khills]

Huh. I mean, I’ve consumed mummy beee… in that bit was beer, stored with mummies. Or the recipe was taken from (look, Chicago knows how to make science fun for adults), but I’d never thought about how a mummy might smell. ….salty resin meat sounds uhm, you know. I’m sure someone’s made it into a perfume.

[@3nertia]

Like whatever crystals, photons, and carbon nanotubes smell like :)

[@katherinegilks3880]

Good video, but be careful about making casual remarks about people of the past (or just other cultures) just for laughs. It comes off as arrogant and insulting - as though we are so much smarter and more enlightened nowadays (spoiler - we aren't!) - and it can really ruin the mood. I don't think your channel would insult living peoples, so the same should apply to dead ones. It's easy for a joke to not land - best avoid them.

[@michaelhead3723]

Hello :)

[@rb8302-p6r]

...her (Nestawedjat's) coffins were looted and eventually ended up at the British Museum". Yes, funny how that keeps happening, isn't it, British Museum? Quite the mystery. Wait, where's my wallet?

[@kellydalstok8900]

You can visit the museum for free.

[@michael-oq9js]

What does this title even mean whattt

[@Zoe-c9z]

There is a recipe in the bible but if you misuse it you die

[@modhusudhon2778]

Savannah💗💓💞💕

[@shadebug]

Damn, you still doing curiosity stream subscriptions after they did Nebula dirty like that?

[@yellowflowerorangeflower5706]

Cool

[@nicholaslogan6840]

Disappointing to see a sponsorship from curiositystream after how they ripped off the the Nebula creators.

[@_andrewvia]

Savannamummy

[@YEWCHENGYINMoe]

2h ago

[@hape3862]

"… were looted and eventually ended up at the British Museum." - As loot does. 🤦🏻‍♂

[@StYxXx]

All those artefacts magically appearing in British museums after being looted.... :D

[@strictlyeducationalmagick]

All these recipes were written, the researches don't know how to read it.

[@DrachenGothik666]

Archeologists know how to read Egyptian hieroglyphs & hieratic script. Have for almost a hundred years. Ever heard of the Rosetta Stone? The problem with possible recipes, is that first, the papyrus has to survive into our era to be found, second, it needs to be complete, & so far, a specific recipe for mummification hasn't been found, yet, so it's all chemical testing & guesses from there.

[@strictlyeducationalmagick]

Only to children that believe the silly story. They can' even read greek or hebrew. @@DrachenGothik666

[@modhusudhon2778]

It’s Bitter, Boring!! 🤔🤔

[@KeyserSose269]

I don’t think a mummy’s body is immortal. All of our souls are.

[@hape3862]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pojHlWmVj92LbsUsi=RnrsGuzKZZdTJYhe

[@KeyserSose269]

The path is as simple as the golden rule.

[@DrachenGothik666]

@@Eet_Mia This is a science channel, not a churchy one. Keep your cult to yourself. Your god isn't real. Religion is a scam used by ruthless people to prey on the stupid, the gullible & the most vulnerable to gain money & power & to control large groups, nothing more. Nothing is immortal. Once we die, we're gone, & all religion has to say about death is making up faery stories about an afterlife. It's all nonsense.

[@hape3862]

@@KeyserSose269 … and as wrong.

[@Psilomuscimol]

No soul. Our consciousness is tied to the electric signals in our brains.

[@Andytlp]

probably like crap. Cant believe science hasnt figured out how to extend life beyond the usual 60-120 years range yet. Maybe a.i will do it.

[@FailedTheTuringTest]

BCE??? SciShow despises Christianity so much you refuse to acknowledge that we all use the Gregorian calendar? Even Neil deGrasse Tyson defends using 'BC' and 'AD' as a sign of respect to the people who worked so hard to gives us our modern calendar (I want to thank you all for your negative and derisive comments as you've completely validated my point. God bless!)

[@WindsorMason]

I prefer HE (Holocene/Human Era) and BHE

[@flarvin8945]

Christians and their persecution complex. lol

[@GlacialScion]

You're hilarious.

[@peterprime2140]

We don't use the Julian Calendar, we use the Gregorian Calendar. You can't get your own victim complex right.

[@jerrygu5316]

you mean the calendar that is named after the authoritarian Roman polytheist who thought of himself as a diety? Time is cyclical, just ask your non-Christian ancestors, before you people were conquered and assimulated.

[@philsophkenny]

😮