The oldest lip lipstick is 4,000 years old and was discovered in Iran.
It is the result of an international research by a team from the University of Padua (specialised in archaeology, chemistry, mineralogy), collaboration with archaeologists from the Faculty of Archeology of the University of Tehran (Iran).
Researchers have analyzed and identified the contents of a finely sculpted chlorite bottle, dated by radiocarbon between 1900 and 1700 BC.
The study "A Bronze Age lip-paint from southeastern Iran" just published in the journal 'Scientific Reports' highlights surprising results: it is of a dark red cosmetic preparation, based on hematite, manganite and braunite, mixed with waxes and vegetable oils, which, due to its specific composition - very similar to that of a modern lipstick - was probably used to color the lips.
"This discovery - says Massimo Vidale, from the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Padua and corresponding author of the study - adds to the results of a line of research which reveals how the artisans of ancient Iran, already 5,000-4,000 years ago, had developed knowledge very advanced on metallic compounds, natural but also synthetic, which allowed the production not only of kohl (our black pencil for the eyes), but also of foundation based on lead carbonates (white lead), and eye shadows which, thanks to the addition of chlorine - carbonates of copper and lead, and perhaps of urea, changed the light basic color towards shades of blue and green".
"The fact that the newly discovered 'lipstick' contains only minimal traces of lead minerals - he adds - suggests that the 'communities of practice' of this technology were aware of the dangers of direct ingestion of this metal. It also suggests the possibility that female makeup, in contexts formal social and ceremonial, was an important component of the public manifestation of the dominant role of an elite stratum of the population".
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