Recipes of Ancient Egyptian kohls more diverse than previously thought.
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Authors
Riesmeier, Marabel
Keute, Jennifer
Veall, Margaret-Ashley
Borschneck, Daniel
Stevenson, Alice
Garnett, Anna
Williams, Alice
Ragan, Maria
Publication Date
2022-04-08Journal Title
Scientific reports
ISSN
2045-2322
Volume
12
Issue
1
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Riesmeier, M., Keute, J., Veall, M., Borschneck, D., Stevenson, A., Garnett, A., Williams, A., et al. (2022). Recipes of Ancient Egyptian kohls more diverse than previously thought.. Scientific reports, 12 (1) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08669-0
Abstract
Kohl, a dark eye cosmetic, is a well-known part of Ancient Egyptian culture. Modern chemical analyses of kohls have largely found lead-based inorganic constituents, whereas earlier studies argued for a much broader range of constituents. Furthermore, organic materials in kohls remain severely understudied. This raises questions regarding the true diversity of materials and recipes used to produce kohls. We analysed the contents of 11 kohl containers from the Petrie Museum collection in London. The objects selected cover a broad range of times and locations in Egypt. Our multi-analytical approach allowed us to characterise both inorganic and organic components. Our data show that inorganic ingredients in kohl recipes are not only lead-based but also manganese- and silicon-based. Our analyses also revealed that organic ingredients derived from both plant and animal sources were commonly used in kohl recipes and sometimes even represent the main constituent. All these findings point towards more varied recipes than initially thought and significantly shift our understanding of Ancient Egyptian kohls.
Keywords
Animals, Cosmetics, History, Ancient, Egypt, London, Egypt, Ancient
Sponsorship
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AH/N007174/1)
Identifiers
35396488, PMC8994005
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08669-0
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/337000
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