Conference Speakers
Maria Rosaria Belgiorno
Maria Rosaria Belgiorno is Senior Associate Researcher at ISPC-CNR (Istituto Scienze del Patrimonio Culturale) in Rome and Director of the Italian Archaeological Mission at Pyrgos (Lm) Cyprus. She Graduated University “La Sapienza” of Rome in 1970 and received her Doctorate in Aegean and Cypriot Archaeology, ISMEA-CNR (Istituto Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici) in 1973. She has held research positions at ISMEA-CNR (1974-2000) and ITABC-CNR (Istituto Tecnologie Applicate ai Beni Culturali, 2000–2019). She has organized 30 events, including 16 exhibitions, and is the author of 20 books and 100 papers, including recent books, The Perfume of Cyprus: from Pyrgos to François Coty the route of a legendary charm (De Strobel, 2017), Behind Distillation: Experimental Archaeology: Tepe Gawra and the spread of its channel jar to Slovakia, Sardinia and Cyprus (De Strobel, 2018), and 2000 BC Science of Aegean Distillation and Origins (De Srobel, 2022).
Alice Capobianco
I am a PhD student in Archaeology and a specialist in the field of “Methodologies of the Archaeological Research” at the University of Genova (Italy). I am actively engaged in various roles, including direction and responsibility, in excavation projects conducted by the University of Genova at sites such as Pompeii, Policastro Bussentino (Salerno), and Nora (Cagliari). My doctoral thesis project focuses on identifying and analyzing archaeological traces of the areas associated with the production and sale of ointments and incense in the Roman world. My research areas, in addition to archaeology of traces and production, include archaeology of architecture, the analysis of walls, structures and coatings, and topographic surveying. I have published papers related to walls analysis and surveying activities, particularly in Pompeii and Nora.
Béatrice Caseau
I am professor of Byzantine history at Sorbonne University (formerly called Université Paris-Sorbonne). I am also the director of the research cluster LABEX RESMED (Religions and Society in the Mediterranean world). My research interests concentrate on Late antique and Byzantine Christianity. I have written on the history of incense, the cultural history of the senses, especially on smell, taste and touch, on the history of Christian liturgies, and particularly on eucharistic practices, on religious violence and destruction of statuary, and on the history of childhood and family networks. My most recent book is on Byzantine food culture (2015). I have also contributed to books of collected essays, either as an editor or as an author. I am preparing two of them, one on the senses in religious cultures of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and the other on food taboos in Antiquity and the Middle Ages.
Sean Coughlin
I am a Junior Star Research Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy and Associate Scientist at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Czech Academy of Sciences. I am PI of Alchemies of Scent, and our aim is to bring together historians, Egyptologists, philologists, and organic chemists to combine traditional philological tools with experimental replication to explore perfumery’s place in the history of science, medicine, art and culture in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece from the fourth through first centuries BCE. I have published on ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, science, medicine and art, and I’m especially interested in science, metaphor and art in the Aristotelian tradition. My work has been exhibited at the National Geographic Museum in Washington DC and the Berlin Museum of Medical History.
Roberto P. Dario
Roberto Pasquale Dario is an Italian independent perfumer with over 10 years of experience in perfumery, with a degree in chemistry and a strong background in raw materials extraction technologies. Fragrance research, creation, evaluation, and consultancy are the areas of interest in which he works. He also works for perfume education, teaching perfume formulation and giving speeches and seminars in Italian universities such as the Università della Calabria and Università di Trieste and for public audience. Passionate about ancient history, since the beginning of his journey in the world of perfumery he has read and studied all the classical sources he managed to find, even going so far as to reproduce the Kyphi, the sacred Egyptian incense, according to the text reported on the walls of the temple of Edfu.
Eduardo Escobar
I am an historian of science and assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and Communication at the University of Bologna. I specialize in the history of science and technology in the ancient Middle East, employing procedural texts from ancient Iraq—clay tablets written in Akkadian using the cuneiform script—to examine and contextualize history’s earliest instruction manuals. My research is situated broadly within the history of knowledge, with a special focus on the ways in which cultures transmit and codify technical knowledge. My publications span a range from technical and philological, to public-facing museum exhibition catalogs, as well as a new contribution to an open-access volume on women in the history of science, developed specifically for use in the classroom.
Katarzyna Gromek
Katarzyna Gromek is an independent scholar who specializes in experimental archaeology of fragrances and cosmetics from Europe and Asia, within the timeframe from Bronze Age to early seventeenth century. Her goal is to recreate the fragrances and cosmetics in the same manner it was done hundreds and thousands of years ago, and then to test their qualities in daily use. She is especially interested in the olfactory culture of medieval China which relates to her reenactment pursuits. Katarzyna shares the results of her experimental work through in-person displays and workshops, presentations at conferences, and free online talks.
Barbara Huber
Barbara Huber is a doctoral researcher of archaeological chemistry at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and the University of Tübingen. She investigates the use, consumption, trade and dispersal of ancient aromatics and spices in the past, particularly in West Asia and North-East Africa, by using biochemical and biomolecular analyses to characterize organic remains. Barbara also focusses on uncovering the importance of scents and perfumes in the past. Recognizing that smell has been largely overlooked by historians and archaeologists, she is working on innovative ways to decode ancient aromas. She uses advanced biomolecular approaches, including the analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), lipids, metabolites and proteins found in archaeological artefacts, such as incense burners, perfume flasks and ointment containers.
Mohammadreza Jalali
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Anya King
Anya King is Associate Professor of History at the University of Southern Indiana, where she teaches Middle Eastern and Asian history. She studied Central Eurasian Studies and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Indiana University, Bloomington. Her research focuses on the intersections between cross-cultural trade and material culture, especially in the area of perfumes, dyes, and drugs, in ancient and medieval Eurasia. In addition to a number of journal articles, Dr. King has written Scent from the Garden of Paradise: Musk and the Medieval Islamic World (Brill, 2017), and is currently preparing a book on the technology of early Islamic perfumery.
Miguel Matos
Miguel Matos is an award-winning perfumer, author, and scent critic with a background in arts and culture journalism. He writes for Fragrantica.com and has curated exhibitions like the Synesthesia Project / Per Fummum in Lisbon 2015 and Making the Body Think in Almada and LA 2017. His books include Artistas Portugueses em Discurso Direto and O Zodiaco Perfumado, as well as numerous exhibition catalogues. He also has his own line of fragrances, Miguel Matos Olfactory Art, and his portfolio includes fragrances for Bruno Acampora, Nishane, and Sarah Baker, and he has served as the creative director for a signature fragrance line under SP Parfums. Miguel has been recognized as an honorary member of the Perfume Bottle Association, he was a finalist at the Fragrance Foundation Awards and the Perfumed Plume Awards, and he won the Art & Olfaction Awards in 2020 and 2023, while being a finalist in 2019 and 2022.
Giacomo Montanari
After earning his Master of Science in Photochemistry and Molecular Materials in 2016 with a thesis on the computational modeling of charge transfer in organic semiconductors, in 2022 Giacomo completed a master's degree program in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology with a thesis on the formulation of solid-state dosage forms based on natural deep eutectic solvents (NaDES). In October 2022, Giacomo joined the AlchemEast spin-off FARE project 'The Western AlchemEast' as a research fellow, for the replication of historical recipes, with a focus on the identification of ingredients and technological operations.
Laura Juliana Prieto
Laura Juliana Prieto is a chemist with a deep interest in the chemistry of flavors and fragrances and has specialized in the subject from both the academic and professional fields. She obtained her first master’s degree in 2016 at National University of Colombia, where she produced work on “Sensory Approach and Chemical Studies of Yellow Tamarillo (Solanum betaceum Cav.) Fruit Flavor”. She finished her second master’s degree focused on flavors, fragrances and fine chemistry at University Côte d’Azur, France. She is currently a research fellow at the GACR-funded project, Alchemies of Scent, at FLU AVCR, and the Chemistry of Natural Products Group at ICOB AVCR in Prague; and she is pursuing a PhD in organic chemistry at the Charles University, with a dissertation on “Myrrh Sesquiterpenes and their Dimers: Total Synthesis Aiming for Historical Biomarkers and Evaluation of Biological Activity.”
Klara Ravat
Klara Ravat is an olfactory artist and indie perfumer based in Berlin. After studying qualitative trend research in Barcelona, Klara moved to The Netherlands where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (ArtScience at The Royal Academy of Arts). At the same time, she started studying Psychology at the Open University of Catalonia. Klara is the co-founder and the director of the Smell Lab, a platform for olfactory art and inter-disciplinary practices that relate to scent as a medium for expression and communication, in Berlin and in an international context. The Smell Lab main mission is to co-produce, host, educate, innovate, and support artistic practices that involve the sense of smell and olfaction.
Bastien Rueff
Bastien Rueff is a postdoctoral researcher at the French School at Athens, where he specializes in Aegean Bronze Age studies. His work primarily focuses on lighting, heating, and perfumery, with a unique emphasis on burning utensils. Bastien is also actively involved in a research project related to Minoan and Mycenaean timber and manages projects in the Minoan town of Malia, Crete. His interests in perfumery extend beyond material culture to encompass the identification and reconstruction of ancient perfumes. Additionally, his research explores the reconstruction of technologies, chaînes opératoires, trade networks, and sensory ambiances.
Andrea Salayová
Andrea Salayová is an assistant professor at the Language Centre at the Faculty of Medicine at Masaryk University in Brno. She obtained her doctoral degree in Classical Philology from Department of Classical Studies at the Faculty of Arts at the Masaryk University in 2021 with the dissertation regarding the animal ingredients in the ancient magical rituals, based on the texts of Greek magical papyri and Curse tablets. She is currently continuing the research of ancient magic and religion.
Jay Silverstein
Jay Silverstein received his PhD in anthropological archaeology from Pennsylvania State University. His theoretical interests include militarism, the rise and fall of complex societies, ancient hydraulic constructions, imperialism, and frontier interactions. He has directed or co-directed projects around the world including Mexico, Guatemala, Southeast Asia, Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, Europe, and Egypt. He has served as an Adjunct faculty member at the University of Hawaii in Classics and Anthropology, and is currently a faculty member at the Department of Chemistry and Forensics, Nottingham Trent University. Jay has been co-director of the Tell Timai Project since 2007.
Robert Littman
Robert Littman is an American classicist, biblical scholar, ancient historian, and archaeologist. He is currently Professor of Classics at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa and Director of the Tell Timai Excavations Timai El Amdid Egypt. Known for his broad range of expertise in the ancient world, he is the author of diverse books and articles on Greek history and literature, ancient medicine, biblical studies, and Egyptian archaeology. He was educated at Oxford University (M.Litt) and Columbia University (Ph.D.). In 2018 the Archaeological Institute of America selected him for the Martha and Artemis Joukowsky Distinguished Service Award. His excavations at Tell Timai are producing material remains of the Greco-Roman period in Egypt that promise new insights in ancient perfumes and scents.
Giuseppe Squillace
Giuseppe Squillace is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Calabria. His research interests include the odours and fragrances in the ancient world, especially in relation to Theophrastus and his work On Odours (De odoribus). On this topic he has published several articles and volumes, such as Il profumo nel mondo antico (Olschki, 2010; new edition 2020); I giardini di Saffo. Profumi e aromi nella Grecia antica (Carocci, 2014); Le lacrime di Mirra. Miti e luoghi dei profumi nel mondo antico (il Mulino, 2015); Gli inganni di Cleopatra. Fonti per lo studio dei profumi antichi (Olschky, 2022); Nella bottega del profumiere. Tecniche e segreti di un'arte antica attraverso Teofrasto, Apollonio Mys e Plinio il Vecchio (Mondadori - Le Monnier, 2023).
Laurence Totelin
Laurence is Professor of Ancient History at Cardiff University, Wales, United Kingdom. She is a historian of Greek and Roman science, technology and medicine. Her focus is on the history of botany and pharmacy, which includes cosmetics and perfumery. She is currently working on a monograph on the retail of medicines in the ancient world, as well as several edited volumes. Her recent publications include edited volumes on Bodily Fluids in Antiquity and A Cultural History of Medicine.
Heike Wilde
Heike Wilde is a postdoctoral fellow and Egyptologist at the Department of Ancient and Medieval Thought Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Her work focuses on scent, aromata and related raw and manufactured materials in the religious, symbolic and cultic aspects in Ancient Egypt. She is also a member of the Department of Egyptology, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. She publishes on topics in ancient technology and cultural history and the interrelationship between technology, art, social history, and the symbolic / ritual significance of materials in Ancient Egypt. She is co-editor, with Susanne Deicher, of the forthcoming volume Modeling Ancient Egypt. Selected papers of the 2019 conference on the Art History and Egyptology of Models at Luxor University and co-author, with Susanne Deicher, of the volume Akteure in Alltag und Kult. Modellobjekte aus dem alten Nordostafrika.
Demi Lizzann Williams
Chemist, Ethnographer, Botanical Resourcer, Aromatherapist and Creative—Demi Lizzann Williams considers herself a global citizen captivated by the evanescent aspects of life. She develops curriculum and research that embarks on understanding the nuances of cultural awareness, aromatherapy, conscious consumerism and self-discovery. Her work is largely translated through the education and resource platform that she has founded known as Traces of Akoya. Williams’ experience in the field of Aromatics is shaped by her formal chemistry background in the cosmetic and phytochemical industry as well as being an independent botanical perfumer. A bachelor’s graduate of chemistry, She is now embarking on delving into her career as an Academic Research Scholar at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute for a Master’s Program in Medicinal Plant Chemistry.
Marie Theres Wittmann
After having studied Classical Philology, Economics and Classical Archaeology in Berlin, Pisa, and Oxford, I am currently doing a PhD at Oxford focusing on urbanistic developments of North African cities during the Severan dynasty (AD 193-235). Based on my training as a philologist, economist and archaeologist, I apply an interdisciplinary approach to my research aiming for a fuller picture of ancient society, cities and their economy. My research interests are therefore manifold and cover Roman and late antique urbanism and economy, ancient technologies, and early Christianity in North Africa, including its writers such as Augustine. Besides my doctoral research, I am working on the economy of ancient cosmetics and have participated in excavations in Xanten (Germany), Posillipo and Pompeii (Italy), Aphrodisias (Turkey) and Volubilis (Morocco).