Pretty amazing. My guess is Formula England will try to claim credit
like the "British" lasagna discovery. ;-)

The 2,000 year old metal canister was hardly corroded. Must have been
one of those special alloys fashioned up near Maranello. More proof
that Italian metalurgy (see very few blown up V-10s) was as superior
2,000 years ago as it is today. ;-)


UK Telegraph
Roman pot reveals oldest face cream
By Pav Akhtar
(Filed: 29/07/2003)


The world's oldest cosmetic face cream was revealed yesterday when
archaeologists opened a 2,000-year-old capsule found at a Roman site
in the heart of London.

The cream was found in a cylindrical tin canister, 2.4in wide and 2in
high, at a recently excavated temple complex. The tin pot is believed
to have been deliberately hidden in a Roman drain, accounting for its
"pristine condition".

The container was opened by Liz Barham, the Museum of London's
conservator. She said: "It seems to be like an ointment, and it has
finger marks in the lid. If this is a sealed Roman container, those
are Roman finger marks."

Gary Brown, the managing director of Pre-Construct Archaeology, which
unearthed the capsule last week, said: "I'm astounded. We had been
asked what to expect in there, but I don't think we could have
expected that it would be some kind of cosmetic moisturising cream.

"Clearly Roman creams of any type do not normally survive in the
archaeological record. We do not know if it is unique, but it is
pretty exceptional."

Francis Grew, the curator of the museum, said: "We have to wait for
scientific analysis first, but we do know that the Romans used asses'
milk as a face cream.We are in uncharted territory."

Nansi Rosenberg, a senior archaeological consultant with EC Harris,
who managed the archaeology on the site, said: "This find is a real
rarity. The metal has hardly corroded at all.

"To find finger marks is very extraordinary - we are literally
touching hands with history."

The religious complex, named Tabard Square, is one of the most
important seen in Britain. Two square Romano-Celtic temples have been
found at the Southwark site, with a possible guest house, contained
within a precinct.

The year-long excavation is now complete and the site is to be
developed for housing and a supermarket.

All the artefacts discovered, including a writing tablet, pottery and
leather shoes, will be donated to the Museum of London.

you can get milk from an ass?

newservice wrote:
When I was a little boy[1], (a long time ago), I used to get "ass" and
"asp" mixed up and I used to say "Cleopatra bathed and asp's milk until
she got bitten in the arse by an ass".

MfG

Geoff.

[1] Well, not that little but still a long time ago.

--
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"Raymond Luxury-Yacht II" <raymonlux (AT) yahoo (DOT) com.au> wrote

Hmm, superior italian metalurgy - you have obviously never had the
'enjoyment' of owning an Alfa Romea / Fiat / Lancia / Maserati!

Note: Ferrari and Lambo being made mainly from plastic don't count!

"Frank or is it Jackie ?" <> Pah, but it was probably imported from Germany
like most of the decent

it was the celts that were the best metal workers not the goths ,they goths
were a bunch of flea bitten, vermin infested , land stealing nomads .

"raymond o'hara" <reoh (AT) comcast (DOT) net> writes:

Tribalist swine! ;-)

It's of course the Assyrians who dominated the market for premium
metals. The Celts were just a rowdy bunch of useless douchebags
wearing funny robes.



Sven.
--
well, maybe not.

In article <oizniwvzg7.fsf (AT) theory (DOT) informatik.uni-ulm.de>, Sven Reloaded
<sbaumer (AT) informatik (DOT) uni-ulm.de.SpAm.Me.NoT> writes
dominated the premium metals development were the original Babylonians.
The Assyrians were just posh Hittites with big noses, who specialised in
coming down like a wolf on the fold, while their cohorts were gleaming
in purple and gold...
--
Paul B The irony of the Information Age is that it has given new
respectability to uninformed opinion. - John Lawton

Paul <paul (AT) streetka (DOT) biz> wrote


I wonder when Doc will weigh in with the Vikings? Not sure about the
Vikings metalurgy prowess but they did like spam.


Wife: Could you do the egg bacon spam and sausage without the spam
then?
Waitress: Urgghh!
Wife: What do you mean 'Urgghh'? I don't like spam!
Vikings: Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!
Waitress: Shut up!
Vikings: Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!
Waitress: Shut up! (Vikings stop) Bloody Vikings!