What Did Ancient Humans Smell Like?

This morning you covered yourself in a chemical designed to kill bacteria, applied a second chemical to block your own sweat glands, then sprayed on a manufactured scent so that no part of your natural smell could reach anyone. You did all of that before speaking to a single person. Everyone asks the same question about ancient humans: did they stink? That is the wrong question. Smell was not a problem they were failing to solve. It was information — identity, health, stress, even genetic compatibility — broadcast continuously and read unconsciously by everyone nearby. This video is about what that channel actually carried, and about the 1919 advertisement that convinced an entire civilisation the smell of a human being was a defect. Sources and further reading: — Wedekind et al. on MHC-dependent mate preference (1995) — Olsson et al. on the odour of sickness (Psychological Science, 2014) — Sarah Everts, The Joy of Sweat — Juliann Sivulka on the Odorono advertising campaign 0:00 What you did this morning 1:00 The gland nobody knows about 2:20 Your smell is not yours 3:20 Scent as a name 4:40 The sweaty T-shirt study 6:10 Why they added instead of removing 7:30 The advertisement that invented shame 9:00 What it actually cost 9:50 You just stopped being readable New video every 1-3 day #ancienthistory #anthropology #humanevolution #ancienthistory #anthropology #humanevolution