An old perfume bottle reveals what some ancient Romans smelled like

A surprisingly well-preserved perfume bottle is providing a rare olfactory window to ancient Rome — and letting in a familiar smell.

Chemical analyses of the contents of a 2,000-year-old bottle reveal that one of its ingredients was patchouli, researchers report May 23 in Heritage. The earthy scent is a staple in modern perfumes, but its use by the Romans was unknown until now.

The essence, in a quartz flask dating from the first century, was found in 2019 in a Roman burial in the southern Spanish town of Carmona, once an important Roman settlement. Researchers unearthed…