The 4,000-Year-Old Poison You're Putting On Your Eyes

Ancient Egypt lined its eyes with lead for thousands of years, and the same black kohl is still sold today. A history of makeup told through one product: how kohl eyeliner was ground from galena, why a 1999 study in Nature showed the Egyptians made synthetic lead compounds on purpose, and why the US FDA still finds lead in kohl, kajal and surma on the shelf now. In this episode: A 3,500-year-old jar in the Metropolitan Museum that still holds a woman's eye paint How galena was ground on stone and stored in reed tubes The chemistry: laurionite and phosgenite, made by "wet chemistry" 4,000 years ago The Bes container, the protection claims on its museum label, and why a label is not a study The dispute: poison, or a protection the Egyptians could not explain? The FDA's own words, and the product that was 82.6 percent lead CHAPTERS 0:00 A shelf, and a four-thousand-year body count 0:54 It starts as rock 1:21 Ground until the shine disappears 2:10 Older than Egypt: the fish palette 2:51 Reed tubes, and who owned them 3:27 Hatnefer's jar 4:14 The black was lead 4:33 Bes, and the protection claim 5:16 What the chemists found in 1999 5:59 Laurionite and phosgenite: made, not dug 6:28 Mirrors, masks, and being looked at 7:26 Every eye in the room 7:53 The 2010 study, and the pushback 8:34 The shelf today: kohl, kajal, surma 8:58 What the FDA actually says 10:12 One case: 82.6 per cent lead 10:51 What actually changed 11:34 What is known, and what is not 11:59 Why they never stopped 12:42 Next time: Hatshepsut SOURCES Walter, Martinetto, Tsoucaris et al., "Making make-up in Ancient Egypt", Nature 397, 483-484 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/17240 Tapsoba, Arbault, Walter, Amatore, "Finding out Egyptian gods' secret using analytical chemistry", Analytical Chemistry 82(2), 457-460 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1021/ac902348g (cell-culture result; disputed) U.S. Food and Drug Administration, "Kohl, Kajal, Al-Kahal, Surma, Tiro, Tozali, or Kwalli: By Any Name, Beware of Lead Poisoning". https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmeti... FDA, lead in cosmetics. https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/potenti... Object records, The Met, New York: Galena (lead ore), acc. 25.3.96b. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect... Grinding slab and grinder, acc. 22.1.163a,b. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect... Fish-shaped palette, Predynastic, acc. 35.7.8. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect... Bundle of kohl tubes, acc. 41.6.10. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect... Double kohl tube, acc. 00.4.37. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect... Kohl jar of Hatnefer, acc. 36.3.62. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect... Cosmetic container with Bes, acc. 26.7.1277. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect... Malachite, foundation deposit of Senenmut, acc. 27.3.450a-c. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect... Mirror with Hathor handle, acc. 26.8.97. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect... Funerary mask of a woman, acc. 30.8.68. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect... Kohl tube and applicator, acc. 30.8.150. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect... Women at a Banquet, facsimile by Nina de Garis Davies (1925), acc. 30.4.78. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect... IMAGE CREDITS Museum photographs: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0). The banquet scene is a 1925 facsimile, not an ancient artwork, and is labelled as such on screen. ABOUT THE RECONSTRUCTIONS The painted scenes are AI-assisted reconstructions made for this episode, as the note on the opening title card says. The woman shown, Nebet, is an invented composite figure, not a historical person, and no face in the episode is a portrait of a real person. The modern products shown carry no brand. Museum objects are photographs of the real artefacts. FOR EDUCATION ONLY. NOT MEDICAL ADVICE. This episode reports what regulators have published. Kohl, kajal, surma, tiro, tozali and kwalli are not approved for sale as cosmetics in the United States, and the FDA has linked them to lead poisoning, particularly in children. If you have one of these products, or you are worried about lead exposure, speak to a doctor or pharmacist and check your own country's regulator. ABOUT PAINTED EMPIRES Painted Empires is a history channel about the substances people put on their bodies, and what those substances did to them. Every episode starts with a product still on a shelf today and follows it back through museum objects and published research. Made by a small independent studio. No sponsors and no affiliate links in this episode. Next episode: The Price — what Hatshepsut actually put on her skin. #AncientEgypt #HistoryOfMakeup #Kohl