Iron Age kohl in Iran: Kani Koter cemetery reveals a previously unknown recipe
Tuesday, July 8, 2025 - 09:55
in Paleontology & Archaeology
An international research team has found that black eye makeup used between the 9th and 7th centuries BCE in the northwest of today's Iran contained natural graphite and manganese oxide—unlike the typical kohl of the time used across the Ancient Near East, which was often based on lead.