Even around 5,000 years after their embalming, Strlič and collaborators described the bodies as smelling “pleasant.” This is largely thanks to the materials applied to the mummies, which included scented waxes, coniferous resins and oils made from pine, cedar, and juniper, as well as gum resins such as frankincense and myrrh.

Researchers who sniffed mummified remains in the name of science were greeted more with a blessing than a curse

What do Egyptian mummies smell like? An international team of researchers has a surprising answer: woody, spicy, and sweet (but if you’re inexplicably interested in things that smell like rotting bodies,