A group of specialists partnered with the Palace Museum, the Famen Temple Museum and the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, all in China, has led an examination of antiquated incense found at the Famen Royal Temple. In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes what they discovered during their investigation and why they believe their findings reflect the importance of the incense trade to the advancement of the Silk Road.
The Famen Royal Temple, situated in the Famen Town of Fufeng County, was built between the years 499 and 532 CE for the unequivocal motivation behind lodging a finger bone from Sakyamuni, the organizer behind Buddhism. Unearthings at the site in 1987 uncovered a formerly obscure underground royal residence at the sanctuary. The royal residence also had a few compartments for incense.In this new exertion, the analysts definitely stand out for their investigation of the incense.
The specialists subjected the materials in the compartments to Fourier-change infrared spectroscopy and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry examination. Together, the two procedures uncovered the fixings in the incense. In one holder, agarwood and elemi gum had been blended, the last option of which was viewed as profoundly sweet-smelling. Another compartment held a combination of frankincense and agarwood, which is the earliest known illustration of a unique mixing process known as Hexiang. Furthermore, the majority of the ingredients found in the incense are native to locations hundreds of kilometers away from the sanctuary — a discovery, the experts argue, that highlights the important role that incense played in shipping lanes throughout China.Frankincense, for instance, would have come from parts of Africa or Arabia, and agarwood originated in India or southeast Asia. The analysts suggest that the vehicle of incense might have been a central point in the advancement of the Silk Road.
The climate where the incense was found suggests it was made during the Tang Dynasty, and texts from the period portraying the blending of fragrant materials have been dated to somewhere in the range of 619 and 907 CE. The finding of the incense in the sanctuary pushes its utilization back significantly farther.
