Archaeologists discover world's oldest perfume
A team of archaeologists in Cyprus are claimed to have unearthed the world's oldest fragrance collection. The perfumes, scented with extracts of lavender, rosemary, pine, bay and coriander, were found bottles in the southern town of Pyrgos and are believed to be over 4,000 years old.
A team of archaeologists in Cyprus are claimed to have unearthed the world's oldest fragrance collection. The perfumes, scented with extracts of lavender, rosemary, pine, bay and coriander, were found bottles in the southern town of Pyrgos and are believed to be over 4,000 years old.
The bottles were excavated from a site, which archaeologists believe was an ancient perfume factory. Inside the 43,000sq ft intact building, the team found mixing bowls, perfume bottle and funnels, as well as 60 distilling stills.
In addition, a team of Italian perfumers have reformulated four of the fragrances using traditional distilling methods and samples found at the site. The original fragrances are on display in Rome's Capitoline Museum.