Ancient perfume factory discovered in Cyprus

Cinnamon, myrtle, and laurel seem to have been popular perfumes around 4,000 years ago. A team of archaeologists have discovered what appears to be a Bronze Age perfume factory in Cyprus. The expensive (plus ça change) ancient perfumes consisted of plant extracts mixed with olive oil, and were used mostly in religious rites.

The extracts, reports the article, were probably derived from locally grown plants - although in the case of cinnamon, which is native to Sri Lanka, I imagine that the essence was imported from the East. International trade was big business even back then, and cinnamon in particular is known to have been imported to Egypt as early as 2000 years BC. Full article on the BBC.

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