Scents of history: study hopes to recreate smells of old Europe

[Judi Lynn]

Researchers plan library of scents from plague repellents to early tobacco

Nicola Davis Science correspondent
@NicolaKSDavis
Tue 17 Nov 2020 02.27 EST

From the pungent scent of a cigar to the gentle fragrance of roses, smells can transport us to days gone by. Now researchers are hoping to harness the pongs of the past to do just that.

Scientists, historians and experts in artificial intelligence across the UK and Europe have announced they are teaming up for a €2.8m project labelled “Odeuropa” to identify and even recreate the aromas that would have assailed noses between the 16th and early 20th centuries.

“Once you start looking at printed texts published in Europe since 1500 you will find loads of references to smell, from religious scents – like the smell of incense – through to things like tobacco,” said Dr William Tullett of Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, a member of the Odeuropa team and the author of Smell in Eighteenth-Century England.

The first step in the three-year project, which is due to begin in January, will be to develop artificial intelligence to screen historical texts in seven languages for descriptions of odours – and their context – as well as to spot aromatic items within images, such as paintings.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/nov/17/scents-of-history-study-hopes-to-recreate-smells-of-old-europe

[soothsayer]

1. Cool but lots of bad smells too!

[Wounded Bear]

2. Yeah, I'm imagining raw sewage and excrement, human and animal...

[marble falls]

6. Overwhelmingly bad smells!

[Javaman]

8. my first thought as well. LOL

the "good old days" really weren't all that good. LOL

[Backseat Driver]

3. Someday, smell-0-screen, films, videos, smartGlade app add-ons/devices?

Starbucks ad - smell the coffee
Popcorn fundraiser - smell the popcorn
Garden site - roses, liliacs, etc...

The olfactory bulb awakens the brain's memories...

[Bayard]

4. Could be good

Or very bad. I'm remembering that people rarely bathed in the past.

[Jack-o-Lantern]

5. Yes, sometimes only once a year.

[mopinko]

7. ever read the novel- parfum?

one of the scariest books ever.
about a dude who figures out how to make perfume from people.

[Wicked Blue]

9. Unwashed people with unbrushed teeth

no thanks

[Warpy]

10. Ah, the gentle scents pf woad. tanneries and ammonia from using animal power.

I don't think we'd appreciate the scents of old Europe without considering the olfactory fog they existed in. Most, like musk and ambergris, would be overpowering to us.

ETA: I read, I think in one of Ruth Goodman's books, that an archaeologist specializing in the Tudor period, actually experimented with their idea of cleanliness. They did change their chemises, the basic undergarment everyone wore next to the skin. Poor folks might go a week (or two in midwinter) before washing it. Wealthy people would change daily or even twice or more a day if they were truly posh. Outer garments had to be laced, pinned, or stitched together and were never washed, just recycled downward in class when they showed wear.

The archaeologist found that changing underwear daily was enough, the underwear catching all the sweat and oils to be laundered away. People did wash their hands and faces. A fine toothed comb several times a day distributed the oils in their hair and prevented it from getting nasty. Teeth were cleaned with chewed twigs. They were unwashed, but it turns out they weren't that smelly or nasty.

While I respect his research on the body odor front, I suspect the galloping dandruff was ferocious since outer garments were meant to be mended and last for many years and rarely, if ever, laundered.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

11. Has anyone else been to Mackinac Island in summer?

Yeah... living in a stockyard..