World's oldest known lipstick traced back 5,000 years - BBC News

The deep red lip-paint found at an ancient graveyard site in what is now southern Iran is identified.

2 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, University of Padua/iSMEO, RomeImage caption, The contents of the lipstick vial as seen under a microscopeBy Robert PlummerBBC NewsThe world's oldest known lipstick was worn up to 5,000 years ago in what is now southern Iran, says a new study.

The deep red lip-paint, contained in a stone vial, was found at an ancient graveyard site in 2001, but it took researchers until now to identify it.

Unlike modern lipsticks, it was probably applied with a brush, say the international team of scientists.

The discovery sheds new light on "public images of female allure" in the fast-changing Bronze Age, they add.

One of the researchers who analysed it, archaeology professor Massimo Vidale at the University of Padua in Italy, told BBC News he liked to imagine it being worn by the women of "the elite societies of 5,000 years ago".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68553433

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