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Italian archaeologist Maria Rosaria Belgiorno displays
circular holes used to store perfume oils in Pyrgos, Cyprus February 22,
2005. (REUTERS/Andreas
Manolis) | |
Egypt's Queen Cleopatra showed how to woo members of the opposite sex with
it, the French may have perfected it, but it is the Cypriots who can now
lay claim to the world's oldest perfumery.
Nestled among the overgrown weeds on a Cypriot hillside offering stunning views of the Mediterranean,
is a pit containing circular imprints which held perfume jars which
Italian archeologists believe is the oldest source of the multi-billion
industry of today.
"This is 4,000 years old. Without a doubt, it is the oldest production
site for perfume in the world," said Italian archeologist Maria Rosaria
Belgiorno, team leader of a mission excavating the Pyrgos-Mavroraki site
55 miles southwest of Cyprus's capital Nicosia.
Scientists have managed to extract essences of the world's oldest
scents and reconstruct the aromas used four millennia ago from fragments
of clay perfume bottles.
And, archeologists have discovered, modern preferences are not too
different from those of 4,000 years ago.
Scientists from the Italian Institute of Technologies Applied to
Cultural Heritage found aromas of cinnamon, laurel, myrtle, anise and citrus bergamot in
clay fragments, all indigenous plants growing in the region.
The perfumery formed part of a larger site dating from 2000 BC which
included a copper smelting works, a winery and an olive press, producing
the essential ingredient for essences.
It was not clear who purchased the perfume from Cyprus, but records
from Knossos in Crete show the island selling 576 liters of pure-grade
olive oil, something which could suggest busy trade then, said Belgiorno.
"The Cypriots probably learned from the Egyptians, we know there were
very strong links between the two," she said.
(BBC) |
埃及女王克利奧帕特拉曾“示范”過如何用它來捕獲異性的芳心；法國人使它的制作技藝臻于完善；而現在塞浦路斯人可以自豪地說自己是世上最古老的香料作坊的主人。
在塞浦路斯一座可以俯視地中海美景的山坡上，繁茂的野草間隱藏著一個深坑，坑里有一些圓形痕跡，顯然是存放香料的廣口瓶留下的。意大利考古學家們相信這是如今價值數十億美元的香水產業最古老的根源。
“這里已經有四千年歷史了。毫無疑問，這是世界上最古老的香水生產場所?！币獯罄脊艑W家瑪麗亞·羅薩麗亞·貝爾焦諾說，她是皮爾戈斯·馬武羅拉奇遺址挖掘開發組的組長。該遺址位于塞浦路斯首都尼科西亞西南方55英里處。
科學家們從存放香水的泥瓶碎片中成功提取出世界上最古老的香水的主要成份，重現了四千年前的香水味道。
此外，考古學家還發現當今人們偏愛的香型和四千年前沒什么大的不同。
意大利文化遺產應用科技協會的科學家們從泥土碎片中發現了肉桂、月桂、愛神木、茴芹、柑橘和檸檬的香味，這些都來自此地土生土長的植物。
這個香料作坊是公元前2000年的一處大型遺址的一部分，遺址里還有煉銅鋪子、酒窖和油橄欖榨油坊等遺跡。橄欖油是生產香精的主要成分。
貝爾焦諾指出，目前還不清楚塞浦路斯人把香水賣給誰，但希臘克利特島的克諾索斯古城有記載顯示，塞浦路斯島曾售出過576升高純度的橄欖油，這說明當時的貿易很興盛。
她說：“塞浦路斯人很可能從埃及人那里學到了香精（的制作方法），我們知道這兩個國家關系非常密切?！?BR>
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2005-03-08 10:06