SAEDNEWS: A stone pencil used 8,200 years ago to apply “eyeliner” has been uncovered at the Yeşilova mound on the Aegean coast in İzmir, Turkey. This is the oldest eyeliner pencil ever discovered in the world.
Archaeologists excavating the Yeşilova mound in the Bornova district of İzmir, Turkey, have uncovered a 9.5-centimeter stone eyeliner dating back 8,200 years. The pointed tip of the artifact still contains traces of black pigment.
Researchers believe the stone eyeliner was used by dipping it into a container of black pigment and applying it to the eyelids with its fine tip. While similar stone cosmetic tools have previously been found in Syria, Iran, and Turkey, the oldest of those dated back only 4,000 years. This makes the Yeşilova discovery by far the oldest known eyeliner in the world.
Chemical analysis revealed that the pigment contains manganese oxide, a substance historically used by prehistoric women to decorate their eyes and eyebrows. Recipes for kohl in the ancient world were remarkably diverse. Studies of cosmetics from ancient Egypt, for example, have shown formulations including lead, carbon, silicon-based materials, and manganese compounds.
The manganese oxide in the Yeşilova kohl was sourced from the mineral manganite, a black or dark gray mineral. Neanderthals used manganite as a fire starter roughly 60,000 years ago, and early Paleolithic humans incorporated it into cave art.
The world’s oldest known lipstick, dating to the 3rd millennium BCE and discovered in southern Iran in 2001, was made using hematite (iron oxide) for a red base, darkened with manganite.
Excavations at Yeşilova, ongoing since 2005, have revealed the earliest settlement layers dating back around 8,500 years, suggesting that the use of eyeliner dates almost to the very beginning of human habitation at the site.
