Mummy Shows Ancient Egyptians Bleached Their Skin;

[anansi]

Mummy Shows Ancient Egyptians Bleached Their Skin

A mummy's skin disorder reveals signs that the woman regularly bleached her skin.
Evidence that the ancient Egyptians plastered on killer cosmetics to whiten their skin has been found in a 3,500-year-old mummy head.

Belonging to an anonymous woman age 20-25, the head shows tiny nodules under the cheeks and at the back of the neck that point to a possible skin disorder called exogenous ochronosis.

"Such dermatosis is caused by the extensive use of skin bleaching cosmetics," ‎Despina Moissidou, an anthropologist at Nation Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, told Discovery News.

History suggests that a lightened tone of the skin might have made the difference in Egyptian society.

"Perhaps it was a symbol of high social status, indicating the individual did not perform hard outdoor work or work at all, just like the deformed feet or the extremely long nails for the ancient high-class Chinese women," Angel Gonzalez, a collaborator at the School of Legal Medicine in Madrid, told Discovery News.

Moissidou and colleagues at the University of Madrid and Athens presented their research at the recent International Conference of Comparative Mummy Studies in Hildesheim, Germany.

The mummified head, which currently belongs to the Museo de Antropología Médica, Forense, Paleopatología y Criminalística in Madrid, Spain, was first described as the "beheaded head of a Guinean negress young woman."

The head's true origins were found only in 2007, when Moissidou and colleagues traced the mummified remains back to the Theban Necropolis archaeological area in Egypt. The head's mummification technique made it possible to date it to the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom.

This is the best known ancient Egyptian dynasty as it includes several famous pharaohs, such as Hatshepsut, Amenhotep III, Akhenaten and Tutankhamun. The researchers believe the woman lived in a period between the reign of Thutmose II and Thutmose III.

The head's whereabouts are still a mystery. Its recorded history begins sometime between 1898-1930, when it appears in the Cairo Museum. The head was then sold to the Spanish collector and banker Ignacio Bauer and finally donated to the Real Sociedad de Arqueología, Antropologíay Prehistoria in Madrid.

"Looking at the accurate embalming, we can say this lady was an important member of the Egyptian society of the time," Gonzalez said.

Moissidou and colleagues carried out several examinations to confirm the diagnosis of exogenous ochronosis.

"Samples were retrieved from the base of the neck and were sent for histological examination," Moissidou said.

The primary results showed a chronic skin inflammation, while chemistry confirmed it. Electron microscopy revealed striking similarities with contemporary tissue affected by exogenous ochronosis.

"We know the ancient Egyptians regarded the use of cosmetics both for aesthetic purposes as well as magical and religious ones. Cosmetic pigments were indeed used on a daily basis," Moissidou said.

But many of the cosmetics used by the Egyptians included lead as a basic component, which could cause skin inflammation as well as skin diseases.

Intriguingly, the use of such cosmetics was common among members of royal families.

"This opens up new interesting questions on the head's identity. Further research is now needed," Moissidou said.

www.seeker.com/mummy-head-shows-ancient-egyptians-bleached-their-skin-1851531742.html

[anansi]

This is quite disturbing on some level but we have to go with where the evidence leads us, if true then the idea of skin bleaching is nothing new and does not really have anything to do with white ppl, all I can say for now is wow!.

[nebsen]

Jun 23, 2016 21:54:45 GMT -5 anansi said:

This is quite disturbing on some level but we have to go with where the evidence leads us, if true then the idea of skin bleaching is nothing new and does not really have anything to do with white ppl, all I can say for now is wow!.

Anansi, A good friend of mine used to say "I smell a rat" when he suspected something being suspicious. fist they described her as the beheaded" Guinean Negress" so they are not refuting that she was black; than they traced the mummified remains back to a Necropolis possibly to the 18 dynasty New Kingdom; which we all know was African thus Black. Than they say, But many of the cosmetics used by the Egyptians included lead as a Basic component. so which is it deliberate " bleaching" or bleaching being a by product of the lead ? Why would a African women who is surround by other African people want to bleach her skin to lighten it, was it a magical ritual, was it a medical remedy for a skin disorder, or was she trying to become the symbolic representation of the" yellow skinned", women depicted in ancient Egyptian art work ? I would like to hear some African centered scholars weigh in on this. Something is not right about this , it's like a shell game being played, I just don't trust it. It is known that the women of Greece & Rome used lead in their cosmetics , so were they trying to lighten their skin ? Could this Egyptian women been raised or spent many years in a foreign court in which skin lighting was the norm ?

[anansi]

Jun 24, 2016 3:01:23 GMT -5 nebsen said:

Jun 23, 2016 21:54:45 GMT -5 anansi said:

This is quite disturbing on some level but we have to go with where the evidence leads us, if true then the idea of skin bleaching is nothing new and does not really have anything to do with white ppl, all I can say for now is wow!.

Anansi, A good friend of mine used to say "I smell a rat" when he suspected something being suspicious. fist they described her as the beheaded" Guinean Negress" so they are not refuting that she was black; than they traced the mummified remains back to a Necropolis possibly to the 18 dynasty New Kingdom; which we all know was African thus Black. Than they say, But many of the cosmetics used by the Egyptians included lead as a Basic component. so which is it deliberate " bleaching" or bleaching being a by product of the lead ? Why would a African women who is surround by other African people want to bleach her skin to lighten it, was it a magical ritual, was it a medical remedy for a skin disorder, or was she trying to become the symbolic representation of the" yellow skinned", women depicted in ancient Egyptian art work ? I would like to hear some African centered scholars weigh in on this. Something is not right about this , it's like a shell game being played, I just don't trust it. It is known that the women of Greece & Rome used lead in their cosmetics , so were they trying to lighten their skin ? Could this Egyptian women been raised or spent many years in a foreign court in which skin lighting was the norm ?

All the above is possible but we also have to brace ourselves to the possibility that liter skin in females was sometimes preferred, remember that in some cases and eras the women were painted somewhat liter than men, while it exemplifies weakness according to sex it may have been attractive for that very reason.
And another thing the ancients were probably just as contradictory in their daily lives as us moderns are today, for us, Black is beautiful but still many of us engaged in shadism.

[nebsen]

Jun 25, 2016 1:28:40 GMT -5 anansi said:

Jun 24, 2016 3:01:23 GMT -5 nebsen said:

Anansi, A good friend of mine used to say "I smell a rat" when he suspected something being suspicious. fist they described her as the beheaded" Guinean Negress" so they are not refuting that she was black; than they traced the mummified remains back to a Necropolis possibly to the 18 dynasty New Kingdom; which we all know was African thus Black. Than they say, But many of the cosmetics used by the Egyptians included lead as a Basic component. so which is it deliberate " bleaching" or bleaching being a by product of the lead ? Why would a African women who is surround by other African people want to bleach her skin to lighten it, was it a magical ritual, was it a medical remedy for a skin disorder, or was she trying to become the symbolic representation of the" yellow skinned", women depicted in ancient Egyptian art work ? I would like to hear some African centered scholars weigh in on this. Something is not right about this , it's like a shell game being played, I just don't trust it. It is known that the women of Greece & Rome used lead in their cosmetics , so were they trying to lighten their skin ? Could this Egyptian women been raised or spent many years in a foreign court in which skin lighting was the norm ?

All the above is possible but we also have to brace ourselves to the possibility that liter skin in females was sometimes preferred, remember that in some cases and eras the women were painted somewhat liter than men, while it exemplifies weakness according to sex it may have been attractive for that very reason.
And another thing the ancients were probably just as contradictory in their daily lives as us moderns are today, for us, Black is beautiful but still many of us engaged in shadism.

I except your rational, for I know the" IDEAL" for ancient Egyptian women, would have been the yellow tone for female & brown/ red tone for males. This is, as I see it, still symbolic & idealized in art/ spiritual realm . They (writers of the article) make, or infer it seem that this ideal to' whiten" the face has some outside influence or stranded of beauty. As if to say this is a Negress- Black & Egyptian & than say, but look she wanted to' whiten" her face . I'm sure esp. in the 18th dynasty' Black" was still seen as " divine & regenerative". It's one thing we know, the ancient Egyptians like other Africans were very pious, & devout to their religious, magical, belief systems. It would be like if a couple of thousand years from now, white archeologist would find painting, sculptures, or other depictions from West African with chalked white faces & bodies & would infer that they wanted to be white , & not realizing this is symbolic of the world of the ancestors, in the after life. Ancient Egyptian women could want to" brighten" their face, & body ,without out wanting to " whiten" themselves. To much context is missing for me,but arrogance rules the day esp.for those seeking to make a name for themselves in the world of archeology

[djoser-xyyman]

Don't believe it. speculation by the author. The disorder can occur NATURALLY. Stop being gullible people. Again projecting our modern socio-politic into the past. I understand the AEians looked negatively at white skin. Why would they want to be white?

quote:"Ochronosis is the bluish black discoloration of certain tissues, such as the ear cartilage and the ocular tissue, seen with alkaptonuria, a METABOLIC disorder"

"Alkaptonuria is an inherited condition that causes urine to turn black when exposed to air. The three major features of alkaptonuria are the presence of dark urine, ochronosis, a buildup of dark pigment in connective tissues such as cartilage and skin,"

[clouddesignc7]

Whoa, that shows skin bleaching ain't nothing new.