The Ancient Egyptians Used Makeup and Perfume

The Ancient Egyptians used makeup and perfume not only to look and feel good, but for spiritual and ritual reasons, as well.

Many women and men wore eyeshadow, eyeliner, blusher and lipstick. 

Eyeliner was made by crushing kohl or charcoal, eyeshadow from crushed stones like malachite and lipstick from crushed carmine beetles. These were ground on cosmetic palettes.

Cosmetic Box from the tomb of Sennedjem - PICRYL - Public Domain Media Search Engine Public Domain Image (Sennedjem was an ancient Egyptian official active in the early Nineteenth Dynasty-period, lasting from 1292 BC to 1189 BC)

Ancient Egyptian cosmetic set from c. 1550–1458 BC, featuring, from left to right, a kohl tube, a razor, a pair of tweezers, a whetstone, and a mirror, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Egyptians also often wore perfume cones on the head. These were made by mixing oils, resins and fat and containing myrrh (perfume from tree resin).

These cones, when placed on the head, would melt from the body heat and release perfume.

The first known depiction of the perfume cones dates from the reign of Hatshepsut (c. 1507–1458 BC), who was was the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Thutmose II. She reigned in her own right circa 1473–58 BCE.

Painting of Lady Tjepu, 1390–1353 BC

Wealthy people of both sexes wore wigs made from human hair and date palm fibre.

Merit's wig from the tomb of Kha and Merit, 14th century BCE, https://collezioni.museoegizio.it/en-GB/material/S_8499

Henna, was believed to drive away evil spirits. Nails and hands were painted with henna, and henna hair dye, originated in ancient Egypt.

The Dwarf Elephant of Cyprus

During the Late Pleistocene, c. 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, an extinct species of dwarf elephant inhabited the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea.

Named Palaeoloxodon cypriotes, these dwarf elephants are believed to descend from Palaeoloxodon xylophagou, which was about 3.5 times larger than P. cypriotes.

Both of these species, are believed to descend from the large Palaeoloxodon antiquus (straight-tusked elephant) of mainland Europe and Western Asia, which probably swam to the island long ago from mainland Europe.

The most recent remains of P. cypriotes, date to around 12,000 years ago.

Palaeoloxodon cypriotes was around 1 metre (3.3 ft) tall and is an example of insular dwarfism, where due to the ecological conditions on islands, such as limited food sources over generations, animals develop a reduced body size.

The P. cypriotes probably weighed about 200 kilograms, a weight reduction of 98% from its ancestors, which weighed about 10 tonnes.

The island of Cyprus also has the remains of a dwarf hippopotamus, which lived there from the Pleistocene until the early Holocene (about 10,000 years ago).

Tusk of a young P. cypriotes, Catlemur

Mitochondrial DNA (maternal line) points to its closest living relative, being the common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius).

At Aetokremmos (which translates to "Cliff of the Eagles") near present day Limassol, excavations have un-earthed bones and artifacts dating 13,000 years back. This makes it the oldest known organised settlement in Cyprus.

Evidence of the diets of the inhabitants are pygmy hippos, dwarf elephants, fish, bustards, fallow deer and pig.

Dwarf elephants inhabited many Mediterranean islands during the Pleistocene.

Pygmy hippos were also found in other Mediterranean areas, such as Crete, Malta and Sicily.

Paleoloxodon cypriotes was comparable in size to Palaeoloxodon falconeri from Sicily (depicted) SlvrHwk