Comparative Guts

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Red-figured terracotta bell-krater

Vessel for mixing wine and water, attributed to the Nikias Painter, late 5th century BCE, with three youths preparing meat offering, altar stacked with burning wood and smoking with knisa. Attendants on either side carry skewers likely holding viscera. The viscera would release putrescine and cadaverine, whose scent is characterised as rancid, as well as ammonia, skatole, indole and other volatile organic compounds. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 41.162.4. Public domain.