More recently, unguentarii found in

More recently, unguentarii found in the necropolis of Rue Charcot at Lyon were analysed by the Laboratoire Nicolas Garnier, who identified several components, not only vegetable oils such as olive oil but also animal fats and vegetal gums; in several cases it seems that the flagon did not contain perfume but instead a vegetable decoction, perhaps a medicine.[15] But in all cases, the volatile components that would have been the most instructive for recreating the perfumes have vanished and chemical analyses of ancient vases are still too few to understand their make-up.Experiments to recreate ancient perfumes have been carried out since the beginning of the twentieth century.