The discovery and subsequent perfection of essential oils is an ancient journey that began in the prehistory, searching for the main active ingredients of plant species to optimize the most powerful and essential substance in each one.
Join us on an exciting journey through time to learn the first part of a History of Essential Oils.
Thousands and thousands of years ago...
The close relationship of humans and plants has surely always existed. The first of our species probably had a very intimate connection with the environment and a much more developed smell. Therefore, it is easy to imagine that through plant aromas they could have intuited the "messages" of each plant and perceived the particular vibration of each with their specific benefits and on that basis, begun a long process of experimentation through trial-error.
This must have resulted in knowledge treasured by shamans or priests and passed down from generation to generation.
It is reasonable to suppose that the knowledge on the use of herbs (the most distant evidences are from 18 thousand years before Christ and were found in the Dordogne, France) would have been developed first and only later, steps were taken towards the making of essential oils.
Our ancestors may have discovered that placing herbs on hot stones gave off pleasant and beneficial aromas. With the control of fire they probably realized that some branches exuded resins when they were burnt, or that flavors concentrated in the lids of cooking utensils. This must have led to primitive distillation systems.
Mesopotamian, India, China, the first steps
The oldest artifact to extract essential oils is 5,500 years old and was found by archaeologists in Tepe Gawra, Mesopotamian, northeast of today's famous Mosul, in Iraq. It is a distillation pot used to make the oils cooking the herbs in water.
Evidence of essential oil processing using a similar distiller was found 5,000 years ago in Taxila, Asia, Indus Valley.
Speaking of Asia, we must mention the Ayurveda because this healing system practiced in India for thousands of years, considers physical, emotional and spiritual aspects to promote health and essential oils are a main tool, especially through massages.
In ancient India essential oils were used mainly in religious rituals and of course for medicinal purposes, sometimes even to combat epidemics. Cloves, saffron, patchouli, cinnamon, myrrh, cardamom and frankincense are just some of the oils they used most.
In China, Traditional Medicine is so old that it is often difficult to separate legends from actual events or characters but even so, due importance was also granted to essential oils and it is known that methods of distillation were practiced with ceramic steamers more than 5,000 years ago.
Essential Egypt
Perhaps in no other civilization have perfumes, cosmetics, ointments and balms been as important as in Egypt and essential oils were the primary elements to elaborate them.
The oils used in Egypt were actually precursors of the present ones but not as concentrated since their methods of elaboration were not so developed yet. They were usually obtained by mixing vegetable matter with hot, vegetable or animal oils.
These oils were very expensive so they were reserved for the privileged social classes. Aromatic oils were a constant companion in religious ceremonies, body beautifying and as part of health care. Among the most used essential oils were frankincense, myrrh, spikenard, rosemary, clove, juniper, cinnamon, peppermint, cedarwood and oregano.
In the Ebers Papyrus, one of the oldest known medical text written in ancient Egypt 3,500 years ago, some 700 medicinal substances are described, many of them, essential oils.
But the best known use of essential oils was in the preparation of the mummies of deceased dignitaries, since the antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties of the oils made them indispensable ingredients in these processes.
The oils accompanied the Egyptian dignitaries to the beyond, or so it was intended: the priests had developed a system in which each deity had a corresponding specific aromatic oil so it was important that the mummies were buried accompanied by the different oils which would serve both to "call" these gods and to use them in the new life after death.
In 1922, when the legendary archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, he noticed that it had been desecrated twice already many centuries before, first, to steal precious metals, and the second, the containers of essential oils and perfumes. He was amazed that the thieves had chosen to steal oils instead of the many valuable objects in the tomb, so he said: "the oils that the jars kept were certainly of much greater value in those days than we can possibly imagine today"
In the next article we will continue this journey in time and will talk about the contributions of Greeks and Romans, what happened during the Middle Ages, the decline in the use of essential oils because of the imposition of modern pharmacology and finally the new rise of aromatherapy since the twentieth century.
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