Some late Stone Age Europeans may have carried make-up inside miniature bottles worn around their necks or waists more than 6,000 yeas ago.
Researchers have found traces of ingredients known to be used in cosmetic formulations(配方)by later civilizations inside small bottles unearthed in Slovenia, dating to between 4350 and 4100 B. C., more than 2,000 years earlier than previously thought. In 2014, Bine Kramberger at the Institute for the PCHS found a miniature ceramic bottle at an ancient site once occupied by people of the Lasinja culture in around 4350 B. C.. More than 100 similar bottles have also been found.
Their purpose was unknown, but it is thought that some might have been children's toys. Curiously, most of them have holes in their tiny handles or edges that archaeologists think people threaded string through, enabling them to be worn around the neck or waist. But Kramberger's find was different because it contained a solid white substance. "It was clear that it had valuable information because in such old archaeological sites, we rarely find vessels that still retain remains of their former content," he says.
Long and thin stone tools were found near the bottle, which could have been used to extract(提炼)the substance within. Now, Kramberger and his colleagues have analysed the substance in the bottle and examined 13 others from the same period.
The mystery material contained a while lead mineral called cerussite, while different lead minerals were identified in two other bottles. The three lead-containing bottles also had contents coming from beeswax inside.
The bottles' contents could have been used for painting, says Kramberger. But he says it is more likely that they were cosmetics, because they contained common ingredients for such products known from later cultures. Cerussite powder was very popular among the ancient Greeks and Romans for skin whitening and remedies, despite its known toxicity(毒性).
Gaydarska says the new study supports what archaeologists have long thought - "that the abilities and cultures of Neolithic people were far more sophisticated than they are often given credit for".