Cosmetics in the hands of archaeologists

2004/12/26 Rementeria Argote, Nagore - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa

• Giza zientziak

Two thousand years later we still see the fingerprints of the one who used the cream for the last time.

Surely man is painted of the human. At first he discovered colorful themes in nature and would use them to adorn the face and body. However, gradually it was preparing mainly mixtures and products to polish and paint the skin. And at that time, cosmetics was born.

It is difficult to say when the jump occurred, but archaeologists have found remains of very old cosmetics. In the summer of last year, for example, they found a bleaching cream in a site of a village in the Roman Empire, in the London area. The cream was stored in a hermetically closed metallic pot, which has allowed it to remain buried during its two thousand years.

Archaeologists were fascinated by opening the boat: That cream was the one used until the fingerprints of the last one! Sure, then they didn't know what the pasta was for, and that's why they proposed making a cream of the same composition with fresh ingredients. The main ingredients of the cream were the fat and starch of the animals, which made them suspect that it would be some cosmetic to polish the skin. But, although in less quantity, in that paste there was a third ingredient, tin oxide.

The embellishing powders of the face are not current, although the option is increasing.

The Romans extracted tin - the metal itself - from the mineral called casiterite. The casiterite is basically tin oxide. And it seems that the little house was reused, until now unknown. Archaeologists added to animal fat and starch the tin oxide and tested it on the skin. And then they realized that the skin was peeling. It perfectly covered the spots, even covered the spots: it was a unique makeup.

That makeup was not going to be of anyone, surely it was of someone of high class. After all, it was a luxury product. But it seems that those who were not rich also liked decoration, and as sophisticated products were going to be expensive, they used what they had at their disposal to illuminate the skin, like flour.

Egyptian fashion

But if throughout history it has been a people who loved colouring, makeup, lip painting, perfumes and creams, that people is Egypt. And the Egyptologists have also found remains of creams and other cosmetics, long before that cream discovered in London, a. C. around 2000 years and Y before the Egyptians already used cosmetics, as seen in the images and texts found in the deposits.

Who does not know the eyes of the brand Egyptians?

According to the remains found, white, green and black powder was used for makeup. These cosmetics had long and complex manufacturing processes, some of which are known for their exposure in writings of the time. In addition, creams of different textures are known to be made, depending on the amount of oil.

It seems that for many centuries, part of the workers' salary was denied and oil. It must be taken into account that the sun and the wind would dry the skin to the operators, so the oil they had as necessary material to polish the skin. When these issues snatched them from the salary, a scandal occurred.

The Egyptians took great care of their appearance and had many products to beautify their face. The women, for example, painted their eyes. The preferred colors were green and black. The green paint was obtained from the malachite, a copper oxide mineral, and for the black it was used soot and galena, lead sulfide mineral. In the murals of the time it is observed that they marked the contour of the eye and the eyebrows. But, as it happens today, fashion was changing: in ancient times it was green in fashion, but later it was used more black.

Prefers clear skin

Makeup gives a more sophisticated appearance.

Cosmetics were used in most of the empires of history. In Persia, for example, women used seven products to make up their faces, since in their tradition the seven represented perfection. Most of them were powders: with a black powder they marked the eyes, dyed the hair and hands with the henna, illuminated the face with the white, and with the red they slept the cheeks, had a dark powder to darken the brows, a hornillo to illuminate the hair and the last touch: they painted a urine.

The old Japanese and Chinese maquilas are also well known, especially because in Japan the geishas maintained the traditional way of making makeup, painting the skin with rice powder and other products in white and white.

In the history of cosmetics, skin bleaching products seem to predominate, but at present the opposite is sought. Although there are all kinds of makeup, the most successful ones are those that darken the skin. Someone knows that little by little the white skin gets back into fashion. They say that past fashions always come back.

Published in 7K.