'Roman cosmetics' found at ancient dig

Reuters ^ | Monday, July 28, 2003

[dead]

Perfectly preserved ... A tiny Roman pot found on the south bank of the Thames
river and its contents are displayed during a press conference in London. The
contents, a white cream still bearing the finger marks of the last owner, are guessed
to have a function ranging from a face cream and toothpaste to something smeared
on goats before they were slaughtered. Photo: AFP

[AnAmericanMother]

Thanks. In this photo it's clear that it's not a screw top.

Other thread here.

[SunkenCiv]

Just adding this to the GGG homepage, not sending a general distribution.

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[Old Professer]

To produce this cup requires the use of precision punches and dies, especially to hold the fit against the upset ring that serves as a stop seal.

While a similar handworked version would require many hours of labor and could probably be accomplished, the obvious similarity of this photo cup and a much more modern one produced since the machine age is undeniable.

Are we being had here?

[Badeye]

NEWSUPDATE

IN the same location as the Roman Cosmetics find, a engraving bearing an uncanny resemblence to Joan Collins using cosmetic products was discovered......

DEVELOPING

[AnAmericanMother]

I don't think we're being had just on the basis of precision engineering.

The Romans used tool & die sets remarkably similar to ours to produce a lot of "precision" items. Chariot hubs, mass-produced items like braziers and torchieres - surgical instruments are another item that look modern - except they're in bronze instead of steel.

On the other thread, I posted a number of similar unguent jars that appear to be "precision engineered". This alone doesn't convince me we're being had.

But it would NOT be the first time that much later artifacts have contaminated earlier strata - usually through the sinking of a well or other shaft and the dumping of miscellaneous trash once the well is abandoned.

Metallurgy should give us the answer. Artifacts can be dated pretty closely by the composition of the metal.

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

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