Ancient Women Used Dung, Grease as Makeup

Aug. 4 -- A little sheep grease here, a little lead powder there… long before Cover Girl and Maybelline entered the scene, ancient women used what they could to enhance their beauty.

And, as revealed by the finding last week of a 2,000-year-old cream from an ancient Roman site in London, people have been applying some sort of makeup to their faces for millenniums.

Researchers believe the cream, discovered where it had been stashed in a drain at an ancient Roman religious complex site in London, may have been a moisturizer derived from donkey milk. But the finger-smeared substance that had been preserved moist within a tight tin pot is still undergoing testing.

If confirmed to be a beauty aid, the ancient moisturizer would add to an already startling array of cosmetics collected from ancient Greco-Roman times.

"We've found lots of artifacts that suggest these people were quite concerned with their appearances," said Nansi Rosenberg, senior archaeological consultant on the London dig and staff archaeologist with the international construction consultant, EC Harris.

That Sheep Grime Glow

Two thousand years ago, Greco-Roman culture had reached a high level of sophistication, with a league of senators and councilmen sitting in government, advanced irrigation systems and regular public events, such as gladiator fights, athletic competitions and theater to entertain the masses.

"They were a very public society where appearances mattered," said Rosenberg.

In fact, the term cosmetic comes from the Greek word "cosmos," meaning order or arrangement. Ancient writings and recovered artifacts have revealed women could be quite creative when finding ways to touch up their looks.

One secret, for example, was extracting the sweat and dirt from sheep's wool to form the basis of a paling face cream.

"Basically they were getting lanolin," explained Jenny Hall, Roman curator at the Museum of London, referring to sheep's natural oil, still used in many cosmetics today.