Archaeologists find 2,000-year-old Roman face cream with finger marks
A sealed metal pot discovered in London contains a white cosmetic paste made of animal fat, starch and tin oxide.
Archaeologists excavating a Roman temple complex at Tabard Square in Southwark, London, discovered a 2,000-year-old metal container containing cosmetic cream, according to the Times of India.
The small tin pot, measuring approximately 6 centimetres in diameter, was found in July 2003 in a ditch surrounding the temple complex.
When conservators opened the sealed container, they found the white paste along with delicate finger impressions left by the person who last used it.
The site, which dates to approximately the middle of the 2nd century AD, included two Romano-Celtic temples and a possible guesthouse.
In 2004, researchers from the University of Bristol published findings in the journal Nature after a chemical examination of the substance.
The analysis identified the ingredients as animal fat, starch and tin oxide, with the fat and starch each accounting for approximately 40 per cent of the cream.
A team led by Richard Evershed at the University of Bristol recreated the cream using fresh materials to examine its texture and appearance.