Here are 7 fun facts about scent and aromatherapy off the top of my head:
1. Human beings for 200,000 years or more have always buried their dead with fragrant plants and used herbs for healing.
2. Aromatherapy is a branch of #herbalism, but in recipes, #herbs are not to be simply interchanged with #essentialoils.
3. The first stills archaeologists have found were terra cotta, apparently made and used by women in ancient Syria and Iraq. Early evidence of #distillation was found on #Akkadian tablets dated c. 1200 BCE describing perfumery operations.
4. In the ancient world, perfumery always had #spiritual and #medicinal as well as #cosmetic uses.
5. In ancient #Egypt, you could tell time by the incense the priestly technicians burned along the #Nile. #Plutarch says that the Egyptians "Every morning make a triple offering of #incense to the sun, an offering of resin at sunrise, and of myrrh at midday."
6. Incense ingredients such as #frankincense and #myrrh resins, #cypress wood and essential oil, and #barks from #India were the most traded goods in ancient #NorthAfrica and the #MiddleEast.
7. #Gold, frankincense, and myrrh were thoughtful gifts for the Baby #Jesus from the #WiseMen. Gold was currency, frankincense protected babies from #respiratory #infection, and myrrh #disinfected and #healed #wounds.