Perfumery and essence extraction
Perfumería y extracción de esencias (Tapputi)
- Date
- c. 1200 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Babylon / Assyria (Tapputi-Belatekallim), Iraq; Pyrgos, Cyprus
- Credited to
- Tapputi-Belatekallim (first named chemist, c. 1200 BCE); workshops at Pyrgos (Cyprus, c. 1850 BCE)
- People
- 👤 Tapputi1200 BCE–
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Maceration, filtering and repeated distillation of flowers, calamus, myrrh and oils in rudimentary stills, documented in a tablet naming Tapputi as head of the workshop. The perfume factory at Pyrgos (Cyprus) is the oldest excavated.
'True' distillation with condensation is disputed before the Hellenistic period; the Mesopotamian apparatus was probably reflux- or steam-extraction based.
What it led to
- Laboratory chemistry with apparatus (still, filter) and repeatable written procedures
- A luxury and cult industry (incense, ointments) and trade in resins from Arabia and Somalia (Punt)
- The first named woman scientist in history
Built on
- Kohl and mineral cosmeticsc. 3500 BCE
- Alchemical distillation and the alembicc. 300
- Olive and sesame oil
- Laboratory ceramics
Made possible
- Alembic stillc. 800
- Distillation (Hellenistic alchemy)
- Commercial incense