X-ray diffraction analysis of cosmetic formulations from Ancient Egypt

Funerary furniture found in Egyptian tombs is an extraordinary source for s tudying the customs in the everyday life during the Ancient Egypt. Some exc avations of tombs have provided some genuine toilet bags, with mirrors, hai rpins, eyeliner applicators and makeup receptacles, sometimes still filled with cosmetic compounds. Make-up samples have been taken from pots made of stone, ceramic, wood or reed conserved in the Department of the Egyptian An tiquities of the Louvre Museum and coming from several sites dated between 2100 and 1100 BC. The mineral phases present in the powders have been ident ified by X-ray diffraction, after SEM observations. Diffraction patterns ha ve been collected in high-resolution mode at the ESRF and at the LURE and t he use of a Rietveld profile refinement method has allowed the quantificati on of mineral phases. We will discuss the limits of this non-destructive me thod, applied to extremely small archaeological samples (about 1mm(3)) and to mixtures of up to ten phases. The quantitative analysis of twenty-eight cosmetic powders will allow us to think about the different eye make-up for mulations elaborated 4000 years ago.