 London, Nov 4: When it comes to cosmetics, the ancient Romans knew
what they were doing.Scientists have unearthed a tin canister
dating back to the middle of the second century AD in an excavated
Roman temple precinct in London that contains a sophisticated 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, said 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, is thought to be the only Roman
tin of cream of its kind to be found intact and in such good
condition.
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.
"We're speculating that it would have been some sort of foundation
cream," Mr Evershed added. "This is an ancient technology and one that
doesn't differ so much from some of the cosmetic technologies in use
today."
The cream consists of about 40 per cent animal fat - most likely
from sheep or cattle - 40 per cent starch and tin oxide. The fat forms
the creamy base and the tin oxide makes the mixture opaque white.
(Reuters) | 
