The Phoenicians used fragrant compounds in varied methods. They were frequently burned in ceramic, metal, or stone supports, imparting particular sensory qualities to indoor and outside areas, recommending the enactment of specific routine practices and more.

The stereotyped picture of smoke increasing from incense burners before magnificent figures or signs is regularly illustrated in Phoenician iconography.

The typical vegetal design or flower morphology of incense burners clearly highlights the synesthetic link in between aromas and the vessels’ function.

Amongst Phoenician ceramics related to aromatic compounds, a group of little, undecorated vessels called ‘Phoenician oil bottles’ stands apart.

Not part of a standardized production, these juglets, dating to the 8th-6th centuries BCE, are normally defined by narrow mouths with thick, outward-sloping rims; short, bulging necks that taper in size; a single vertical ring manage, rounded in area, connected at the mid-neck and shoulder; globular to ovoid bodies; and ringed, pointed, or rounded bases.

Other than for the especially big examples from the Teatro Cómico in Cádiz, Phoenician oil bottles typically vary in height from 11.5 to 14 cm and in optimum size from 8.5 to 10 cm up until around the mid-7th century BCE.

Afterwards, the height reduces to around 9.5 cm and the body to roughly 6.5 cm, accompanied by a decrease in the deal with’s size, such that it no longer enables a finger to go through.

These plain ware, slow-pouring juglets have actually been recuperated from numerous contexts throughout the Atlantic and Mediterranean areas, consisting of burial places, homes, spiritual locations, pottery workshops, and a shipwreck. This circulation shows their extensive and differed usage.

The little island of Motya in western Sicily, Italy, presently yields the biggest variety of these vessels.

“Their prevalent circulation throughout and beyond the Mediterranean recommends these vessels satisfied varied functions,” stated Dr. Adriano Orsingher, a scientist at the Complutense University of Madrid and the Institute of Biblical Archaeology at the University of Tübingen.

In the brand-new research study, Dr. Orsingher and coworkers analyzed the structure of the ceramics to identify the origin of ‘Phoenician oil bottles.’

More analysis of the natural residues maintained within the vessels supplied insight into their initial contents and planned usage.

Their outcomes indicate a production origin in southern Phoenicia, particularly in between contemporary Beirut and the Carmel area.

Organic residues were spotted in 8 of the 51 vessels, exposing traces of plant-based lipids, along with pine and mastic resin, which are strong signs of aromatic oil preparations.

“Our research study verifies these ceramic vessels were utilized to transfer fragrant oils,” stated Dr. Silvia Amicone, a scientist at the University of Tübingen.

“These oils were more than basic products. They worked as cultural ports, as expressions of identity that accompanied Phoenician migrants throughout the Mediterranean,” Dr. Orsingher stated.

“Carrying aromas of home, they acted as instruments of memory and enhanced shared practices and olfactory experiences amongst dispersed neighborhoods.”

The Iron Age Mediterranean was a landscape of extreme movement, trade, and cultural entanglement.

Amongst the crucial representatives of this connection were the Phoenicians, prominent sailors, traders, craftsmens, and migrants who developed settlements far beyond their Levantine homeland.

Essential to Phoenician cultural practices was the production and usage of fragrant compounds, both for regional usage and export.

The research study requires a wider reconsideration of how migration, trade, and cultural belonging were experienced in the ancient world.

“We need to reconsider ancient movement, not simply as the motion of individuals and products, however as the flow of smells, memories, and sensory customs,” Dr. Orsingher stated.

“Scent is totally connected to identity. It plays an important, however typically neglected, function in procedures of migration, settlement, and cultural exchange.”

“Our work highlights the capacity of interdisciplinary science to open the intangible measurements of antiquity,” Dr. Amicone stated.

“By studying what these vessels included and how they were utilized, we get distinct insights into how fragrances linked lives, landscapes, and identities in the ancient Mediterranean,” Dr. Orsingher stated.

“Innovative research study techniques continue to discover unexpected insights into the past,” stated University of Tübingen’s Professor (Dōshisha) Karla Pollmann.

“This research study demonstrates how even evasive traces like ancient aromas can be made available through interdisciplinary approaches, opening brand-new windows into the sensory and cultural worlds of antiquity.”

The findings were released in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory

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A. Orsingher et al2025. Aromas of Home: Phoenician Oil Bottles from Motya. J Archaeol Method Theory 32, 59; doi: 10.1007/ s10816-025-09719-3