ZGORNJE RADVANJE, SLOVENIA—According to a Phys.org report, Bine Kramberger of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, and Christoph Berthold and Cynthianne Spiteri of Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen analyzed the contents of small ceramic bottles unearthed in northeastern Slovenia in 2006 and 2007. They detected traces of animal fat, beeswax, plant oils, and cerussite, or “white lead,” as well as two other lead-containing materials in the residues. One of the bottles, which has been dated to between 4350 and 4100 B.C., was found with long thin stone tools that may have been used to extract their contents. Holes in the bottles’ handles indicate that they may have been hung from the waist or worn around the neck with string. The researchers suggest that the bottles might be evidence of the oldest known use of cosmetics in Europe. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. To read about a wealthy Roman woman buried with her makeup kit in what is now Germany, go to "Beauty Endures."
