What if history wasn’t just something you looked at, but something you could breathe in? In this Knowable Magazine story, Kaja Šeruga follows scientists and historians who are working to reconstruct the scents of the past—think musty old books and millennia-old mummies—using chemistry, archival records, and AI. Smell, they argue, has a rare power to stir memory and emotion, making the past feel more tangible. By bottling these long-lost aromas for museums and exhibitions, researchers hope to add a new, intimate layer to how we experience history.
One word that all sniffers used to describe the library wasn’t particularly surprising: woody. Others that proved popular were smoky, earthy and vanilla. Such descriptors can help conservators assess the state of old paper, since papers that are slightly more acidic due to decay, for example, “smell more sweet,” says Strlič. “And those that are stable smell more like hay.”
More picks about smell
Sense of Scents
“The annual olfactory rush of cedar pollen is a sign of home.”
For Decades, a Florida Woman Had No Sense of Smell. Can She Get It Back?
“As the pandemic stole millions of people’s “fifth sense,” Barbara Walker’s seemed to be coming back. But why?”
These Highly Trained Rats Have Sniffed Out 150,000 Explosives
“The rats are fine: How once-overlooked animal skills are helping humans.”
