A small stone vial has been discovered in southeastern Iran containing a red cosmetic that was likely used as a lip colouring nearly 4000 years ago, according to archaeologists.
The rare find is “probably the earliest” example of lipstick to be scientifically documented and analysed, the researchers reported in February in the journal Scientific Reports.
More than 80 per cent of the analysed sample was made up of minerals that produce a deep red colour – primarily hematite.
The mixture also contained manganite and braunite, which have dark hues, as well as traces of other minerals and waxy substances made from vegetables and other organic substances.
It’s not possible to exclude the possibility the cosmetic was used in other ways, say, as a blusher, according to lead study author Massimo Vidale, an archaeologist at the University of Padua’s Department of Cultural Heritage in Italy.
But he said the homogenous, deep red colour, the compounds used and the shape of the vial “suggested to us it was used on lips”.
Excavations of an archaeological site in Panama have revealed the grave of a religious leader buried over 1200 years ago alongside a cache of gold objects — and numerous other human remains.
Researchers found the ancient tomb in El Caño Archaeological Park, a site in Coclé province known as a hotbed for pre-Columbian discoveries, particularly lavish burial chambers.
The newfound enclosure, built around 700, is the ninth tomb unearthed from the park since excavation of the site began in 2008, according to a March 1 news release from Panama’s Ministry of Culture.
The tombs are resting places for people who had a higher status within their societies, said Dr Julia Mayo, the excavation’s leader and the director of the El Caño Foundation, a group that studies Panama’s cultural heritage through research on the archaeological site.
The research team believe the person found lying at the centre of the grave had higher status, indicated not only by his physical position but also gold and ceramic artifacts that surrounded the body.
The civilization of the region surrounding El Caño at the time treated the site as sacred and worshipped their “ancestors,” referring to those remembered for having done important things.
