Saturday, February 22, at 11:00 am, at the Museum Pigorini of Rome, within the activities of the “Friends of the Italian Archaeological School of Athens”, prof. Maria Rosaria Belgiorno (ITABC-CNR, ROMA) will give a lecture titled “Pyrgos / Mavroraki: copper, charm and beauty of a thousand years before Aphrodite”.
The recent discovery of the Perfume Factory of Pyrgos (Cyprus), which to date remains the earliest evidence, dating back to the second millennium BC, enabled to identify some of the process of extracting aromatic fragrances, not only by studying the functionality of vases and instruments, but also through archaeometric analysis, which identified some of the aromatic substances that were processed at Pyrgos, until a devastating earthquake which cancelled the industrial complex for ever.
The discovery of the Perfume Factory of Pyrgos is nowadays the basis of a specific research project, based on archaeometric and historic experience of the ITABC-CNR team, which conducts research on this subject since 1980, following the discovery of the perfume factory of Cleopatra. Special laboratories have been set up at the ITABC-CNR .
.
To read more:
Donato G., Lentini A., Fragrances in the ancient civilisations of the Mediterranean Basin: Archaeometric studies” in M.R. Belgiorno, Aromata Cipria, Ed. Era Nuova, Perugia, Roma 2006, pp. 173-218.
Lentini A., Sostanze odorose e terapeutiche dal sito preistorico di Pyrgos-Mavroraki, in I profumi di Afrodite e il segreto dell’olio, ed. Gangemi, Roma 2007, pp. 89-109.
.
(Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography-“L. Pigorini” P.za Marconi 14-00144 Rome (Italy), Tel. 06-549521)
For information about the Association: http://www.amicisaia.it/index.htm