2,700-year-old male face cream found at excavations in China

Humans have been using materials to color their faces and bodies for thousands of years.For example, evidence that

Women in China date back 2,000 years, as early as 1450 B.C.In a new study, researchers have found evidence of the earliest use of cosmetics by Chinese men in the Liujiawa region of northern China.They applied a cream to their face that gave their face a white color.

The team worked on the excavation site wherethe artifacts have been dated to a special moment in Chinese history - "the period of spring and autumn." It lasted 300 years, between 771 and 476 BC. Once on this place was the city of Liujiawa, which was the capital of the vassal state of Rui. The spring and fall period ended when China united under the Qin dynasty.

(A) a bronze vessel in place, (B) an ornament on a bronze vessel after cleaning, (C) a large number of clusters of yellowish-white lumps inside the bronze vessel.Credit:Archeometry(2021). DOI: 10.1111 / arcm.12659

Researchers found an area at the excavation site that they identified as the area of the nobility.They found bronze funerary weapons and a bronze vessel that the researchers believed contained  face cream, a soft yellow-white material.Analysis of the material revealed that it is about 2,700 years old and consists of animal fat and   moon milk (a type of carbonate mud found in some caves that turns into a white powder when dried).When mixed together, the combination became a material that could be used as a cream.Researchers speculate that the nobleman used face cream to stand out among the commoners.  The find representsis the oldest known use of a cosmetic product for men in China.

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Moon milk is a white homogeneous jellymass accumulating in the form of deposits, films or streaks on the walls and floors of caves. One of the characteristic features of this mass is the ability to quickly liquefy, for example, if you crush a piece of it. The first mention of moon milk dates back to 1546.