Egyptian pots hold cosmetics secrets

By Simon Pitman, 15-Mar-2007

A collection of canopic jars held in the Louvre in Paris, France, since 1905 have unearthed some of the natural ingredients that were used in ancient Egyptian beauty treatments thousands of years ago.

Originally the jars had been thought to contain the embalmed organs of the great Egyptian pharaoh Rameses II, but a team of researchers from the University of Strasbourg found that instead of the beeswax and bitumen synonymous with such formulations, they contained something quite different.

In fact the blue pots, which are covered with Egyptian hieroglyphs, contained animal fats, similar to the fatty acids found in pig fat, a report by the New Scientist said.

Although animal fats are not commonly used in mass market personal care products these days, the researchers say that they also found aromatic alcohols found in pine or cedar imported from the Levant.

In ancient Egypt pine and cedar oils were used in scented ointments, whereas now they are commonly used in natural bath and body products, as well as deodorants and essential oils.

Further more radioactive carbon tracing found that the pots were dated from around 1035BC, dating them almost 200 years after the death of Ramases II.

The discovery comes three years after archaelogistis came across a pot of Roman face cream estimated to be nearly 2,000 years old at a construction site in south London.

The face cream container was unearthed at an archaeological dig and its contents were believed to have been used by fashion conscious Roman aristocrats desiring a paler complexion.

The fact the cosmetic product had not suffered decomposition, and that its contents remained largely intact, allowed scientists from Bristol University to create a replica using its exact formulation, substituting its ingredients for modern-day fresh alternatives.

Approximately 40 per cent of the product's ingredients were starch and animal fat, most likely to have been derived from the carcass of a cow or goat.

Indeed, another chemical compound, tin oxide, was also found in the face cream formulation, which is commonly used in contemporary cosmetics products as a whitener.