World’s earliest synthesized white lead cosmetics found in China

In Shaanxi Province, Chinese archaeologists’ latest discovery in the remains of a micro-copper container unearthed in a tomb of a patrician who lived during the early Spring and Autumn Period (770BC-476 BC) proves through analysis that such remains are of the world’s earliest synthetic lead-white makeup known so far.

The discovery also indicates that it was common for ancient Chinese to use synthetic lead-white cosmetics at that time, nearly 300 years earlier than in Europe and the Mediterranean region.