Anyone who has ever spent any amount of time countenancing what the “old days” would have smelled like (come on, I know you’re out there) has doubtlessly come to the conclusion that the answer “not good” would generally suffice.

Although scientists can now prove that Cleopatra was notably more fragrant.

A team of archaeologists and fragrance experts from the University of Hawaii has recreated a “spicy, musky” perfume that may have been worn by the Egyptian queen after a decade-long dig at a site north of Cairo uncovered a perfume factory dating to 300BC. The factory was filled with tiny glass perfume jars and clay amphoras and while no scent remained, scientists were able to identify key ingredients by analysing residues left in bottles.

The resulting fragrance is a strong, sticky, long-lasting solution unlike today’s counterparts, containing myrrh, a tree resin hailing from Africa, cardamon, olive oil and cinnamon.

“It was the most prized perfume of the ancient world,” Robert Littman, an archaeologist at the university, told travel magazine Atlas Obscura; “What a thrill it is to smell a perfume that no one has smelt for 2,000 years and one which Cleopatra might have worn.”