Scents of Arabia: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Ancient Olfactory Worlds: Papers from a Special Session of the Fifty-fifth Meeting of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, held in Berlin on 6th August 2022

Scents of Arabia: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Ancient Olfactory Worlds: Papers from a Special Session of the Fifty-fifth Meeting of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, held in Berlin on 6th August 2022

Edited by Arnulf Hausleiter, Barbara Huber 

 

Scents of Arabia presents an innovative interdisciplinary exploration of the role of scents and incense in ancient Arabian societies. Bringing together leading experts in archaeology, biomolecular science, sensory studies, history, and ethnography, it reveals how aromatic substances were deeply embedded in social, ritual, and economic life across time. The book challenges traditional trade-focused narratives and instead highlights the complex, multisensory dimensions of scent - as a medium of communication, identity, and religious experience. Emphasizing the cultural agency of olfaction, the contributions of this book offer new frameworks for understanding how ancient societies perceived, used, and valued aromatic substances. This volume positions olfactory heritage as a key element of historical inquiry and advocates for its recognition within broader debates on intangible cultural heritage.

H 255 x W 206 mm

130 pages

48 figures (colour throughout)

Published Oct 2025

Archaeopress Archaeology

ISBN

Hardback: 9781805830740

Digital: 9781805830757

DOI 10.32028/9781805830740

Contents

Guidelines and Transliteration

Preface

Titles of papers read at the Seminar for Arabian Studies special session ‘Scents of Arabia: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Ancient Olfactory Worlds’

New dimensions of interdisciplinary research on ancient scents and incense in Arabia – Arnulf Hausleiter and Barbara Huber

‘Aššur, accept! Aššur, listen!’ Connecting Arabia and Assyria through aromatics and olfaction – Kiersten Neumann

Aššurbanipal’s bdellium: revisiting Commiphora wightii in the Persian Gulf – Sureshkumar Muthukumaran

The identifications of incenses: lessons learned in the organic analyses in the Mediterranean and the Levant – Elisabeth Dodinet

Exploring the aromatic diversity of incense materials at the ancient oasis of Taymāʾ using metabolic profiling – Barbara Huber, Arnulf Hausleiter, Michèle Dinies, Muhammad H. Al-Najem, Majed T.F. Alonazy, Ina Säumel, Daniel Giddings Vassão, Ricardo Fernandes, Nicole Boivin, Patrick Roberts and Thi Lam Huong Pham

The archaeological and ethnographic heritage of portable incense burner production in Dhofar, the southern Arabian Peninsula – William Gerard Zimmerle

Outlook: the scents of Arabia – a ‘nose-on’ approach – Sofia Collette Ehrich

List of contributors