2,000-year-old cream shows aristocrat’s taste

[Adsos Letter]

Source: MSNBC
By Rossella Lorenzi

Italian archaeologists have discovered lotion that is over 2,000 years old, left almost intact in the cosmetic case of an aristocratic Etruscan woman.

The discovery, which occurred four years ago in a necropolis near the Tuscan town of Chiusi, has just been made public, following chemical analysis which identified the original compounds of the ancient ointment. The team reports their findings in the July issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science.

Dating to the second half of the second century B.C., the intact tomb was found sealed by a large terracotta tile. The site featured a red-purple painted inscription with the name of the deceased: Thana Presnti Plecunia Umranalisa.

"From the formula of the name, we learn that Thana Plecunia was the daughter of a lady named Umranei, a member of one of the most important aristocratic families of Chiusi," the researchers wrote.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31855795/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Very nice photo accompanying this story.

[aquart]

1. She was her mother's daughter? Not her father's?

Now isn't that interesting.

[Adsos Letter]

2. Indeed. Nice catch, aquart.

:hi:

[aquart]

12. Well, we tend to take patriarchy for granted.

But matriarchal descent just spits on that. If you watch the National Geographic or History channels, you'd think male rule was the most natural thing. But if you read Egyptian poetry, MOTHERS arranged marriages, not fathers. So the world wasn't always what it is today.

[Adsos Letter]

14. So much of what we consider "common knowledge" is inaccurate

it's a shame that our current culture can't afford an education which includes an emphasis on broader, more in-depth understanding of the past.

[aquart]

16. If only just to understand our own idioms.

Sorry, caught someone writing "right off the bet" today and it wasn't a typo.

[Adsos Letter]

17. Indeed. Say, can ya' spare me two bits?

:D

[Sal Minella]

23. Among some Native American groups (whose names I no longer remember)

descent was traced through matriarchal lines.

Early ethnologists in North America became frustrated in asking questions to trace the father, and then his father, because the fathers were visitors to the lines of mother-daughter descent.

[waiting for hope]

13. Etruscan women experienced more

equal footing and wealth with their male counterparts as opposed the the Greek and early Roman societies at the time:

http://www.mariamilani.com/ancient_civilisation_civilization/ancient_etruscans.htm#Etruscan%20social%20structure

http://www.smu.edu/News/2008/etruscan-usatoday-4feb2009.aspx

It is very possible that there may not have been a father present.

[Adsos Letter]

15. Very, very interesting!

There are many misconceptions about the roles allowed to women in our own early modern past; dependent upon status, culture, and time. Edited to add: The Letters of the Lady Brilliana Harley are an excellent case in point, for an English woman of the gentry class in Civil War England.

[waiting for hope]

18. Just looked her up - thank you!

That may be a little bit of summer reading. :)

[Adsos Letter]

19. I read her for part of a Graduate History seminar.

It helpful if you have a basic knowledge of the English Civil War period(at least until 1643, as she died after leading the defense of her castle againt the Royalists). It is actually a collection of her letters, with very little in the way of background or editing.

An excellent book for that purpose is Christopher Hill's The World Turned Upside Down

Here is a link to some photos of the castle she defended while her hubby was away at Parliament:

&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smr.herefordshire.gov.uk%2Fcastles%2Fcastlesdata_az%2Fbrampton%2520bryan.htm&size=11k&name=bb+ruins+jpg&p=castle+brampton+Bryan&oid=59a69e4aa329fb4c&fr2=&no=13&tt=16&sigr=12fddrvt9&sigi=11ogce8dq&sigb=134jofvdh

[waiting for hope]

20. Sad that only a year later

it was destroyed. I would enjoy reading the letters - thank you for the info!

[emilyg]

3. Thank you,

:hug:

[Adsos Letter]

6. You are most welcome emilyg!

Most welcome. :hug:

[babylonsister]

4. Why is 2,000 year old lotion better than plastic bags that live forever?

Did the Etruscan woman die without wrinkles? That would excite me!

:D :hi:, Adsos! And close to 'bon soir'.

[Adsos Letter]

5. Indeed, they DID die without wrinkles...

Thus, they are known to History as the Smooth-Faced Ladies of the Etruscans. :D

And those little ceramic cream pots are WAY cooler than our plastic stuff...

'bon soir, madame' :hug:

[babylonsister]

8. OK, you made me read the entire article.

And I imagine they were prune-faced! But I do so love ceramic! Ta!

[Javaman]

24. Because Max Factor and Maybellene can make money off of them.

I can see it now:

Images of beautiful woman in flowing gaze dresses flowing in the wind set in a Mediterranean type landscape.

"The beauty of the ancient world is timeless".

Cross fade between various statues of the female form from antiquity.

"from the vanity of Rome comes..."

EUROTRASHCREME

Cross fade between actors portraying ancient "chemists" working in a lab with mortar and pistil.

"the elegance of the Mediterranean is now in a bottle"

Lone bottle of Eurotrashcreme sits on a marble pillar against the background of a typical sun kissed Roman garden out of focus.

[blogslut]

7. Cool

That Moringa oil sounds interesting.

[Adsos Letter]

9. They were no slackers when it came to either love, or eroticism.

:hi:

[imdjh]

10. Would that all ancients have been so considerate as to mark their tombs with full names.

It's so irritating when people didn't keep good records. Of course, it doesn't help when an army burns down the courthouse.

[Adsos Letter]

11. Oh, so true!

[Trajan]

21. Very Nice Photo ....

This ancient ointment was found to have a high abundance of fatty acids.
It also contained natural resins and moringa oil, which was one of the ingredients
in a recipe for a perfume for ancient royalty. The researchers also believe that
the lotion was imported.

[soothsayer]

22. I thought they hadn't cracked the code one the Etruscan language yet

Was the tomb inscription in Latin or Greek?

[Posteritatis]

26. They've got the alphabet and a few words, but that's it

That's about my limit of, say, Russian knowledge, but it's enough recognize proper names. It's a similar sort of thing in this case.

(The annoying thing? One of the emperors actually wrote an Etruscan grammar and dictionary, but only the index or something similarly unhelpful survived.)

[NeedleCast]

25. How long do you have to be dead before breaking into a grave

becomes archeology and not grave robbing?

[imdjh]

27. No more than 144 years.

They routinely excavate Civil War era graves, even some marked ones. The do all kinds of tests on the bones.

[malaise]

28. Thanks for this

Love your threads.

Rec