CNN.com - Ancient Roman cosmetic cream found - Nov 3, 2004

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Title: CNN.com - Ancient Roman cosmetic cream found - Nov 3, 2004

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Ancient Roman cosmetic cream found

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- When it comes to cosmetics, the ancient

Romans knew what they were doing.

 

Scientists have unearthed a small tin canister dating back to the middle

of the second century AD in an excavated Roman temple precinct in London

that contains a sophisticated white cream that could rival today's top

cosmetics.

 

" It is quite a complicated little mixture, " Richard Evershed, an

analytical chemist at the University of Bristol in south-western

England, told Reuters on Wednesday.

 

" Perhaps they didn't understand the chemistry of everything but they

obviously knew what they were doing. "

 

The pot, measuring 60 mm x 52 mm (2.4 x 2 inches), is thought to be the

only Roman tin of cream of its kind to be found intact and in such good

condition.

 

It was discovered in a waterlogged ditch preserved under wooden planks

in thick layers of mud.

 

The scientists, who reported the findings in the journal Nature, think

the whitish cream was probably worn by fashionable Roman women. A fair

complexion was popular in Roman times, according to the researchers.

 

" We're speculating that it would have been some sort of foundation

cream, " Evershed added.

 

The cream consists of about 40 percent animal fat -- most likely from

sheep or cattle -- 40 percent starch and tin oxide. The fat forms the

creamy base and the tin oxide makes the mixture opaque white.

 

" As far as I can tell, the tin oxide was quite inert so it wouldn't

cause any dermatological problems, " said Evershed.

 

Francis Grew, of the Museum of London, said both the tin and its

contents were of very high quality.

 

" The cosmetic trade seems to have ranged in Roman times from a sort of

home-spun type of thing ... to a sophisticated level, " he told Reuters.

 

Evershed said: " It gives us yet another insight into the sophisticated

way in which our ancestors used materials from their environment. This

is an ancient technology and one that doesn't differ so much from some

of the cosmetic technologies in use today. "

 

 

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