Tube of Ancient Red Lipstick Unearthed in Iran

New research suggests the nearly 4,000-year-old cosmetic may be among the oldest discoveries of its kind

Sonja Anderson
Daily Correspondent

February 20, 2024 1:56 p.m.



The ancient red pigment was held in an intricately decorated chlorite vial. Massimo Vidale via Scientific Reports

Researchers say that a small vial of deep red paste found in Iran’s Jiroft region is likely an ancient tube of lipstick. The mineral mixture, housed in a decorated stone tube, could be nearly 4,000 years old, making it among the earliest ever discovered.

The lipstick dates to between 1936 and 1687 B.C.E., according to a study published this month in the journal Scientific Reports. The team thinks the vial could have come from the Marḫaši, which, according to Mesopotamian texts, was a powerful civilization that occupied what’s now eastern Iran. Scientists write that the pigment’s advanced age “is far from surprising, considering the long-standing, well-known technical and aesthetic tradition in cosmetology in ancient Iran.”

The delicate container surfaced in 2001, when the Halil river flooded several ancient graveyards in southeastern Iran and dislodged items from the burials, according to Artnet’s Adam Schrader. It was later housed in the Archaeological Museum of Jiroft.

Lip pigment was just one of many beauty products used in ancient Iran. Perhaps the region’s most prominent cosmetic was eyeliner, which was made of a black powder called sormeh and worn by both women and men. Ancient Iranians also wore several kinds of powders on their cheeks and eyebrows.

More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-ancient-vial-of-mineral-pigment-could-be-the-oldest-lipstick-ever-found-180983803/