Scientists Say Cleopatra’s Makeup Was Sophisticated for Its Time

The Egyptian artisans who produced makeup for Cleopatra and other women were able to perform sophisticated chemistry that researchers had not believed possible at such an early date, according to a report in today’s Nature. Scientists from the Louvre Museum and the French cosmetics company L’Oreal analyzed makeup from the tombs of the pharaohs in the period 2000 BC to 1200 BC and found that it contained chemicals that do not occur naturally.

The team concluded that these chemicals were synthesized in a primitive laboratory and added to crushed natural ores such as galena and cerussite to make black pigment for eye makeup. Researchers had thought that such chemical processing did not occur until several hundred years later.

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Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II