Emily Chan
At a prehistoric site in İzmir, Turkey, archaeologists have uncovered an 8,200-year-old kohl pen. It is believed to be the earliest example of eyeliner in the world.
A variety of artifacts that reveal the customs and daily activities of ancient cultures have been found at the Yeşilova Mound. The site was occupied from 6500 to 4000 B.C.E. It is the oldest prehistoric settlement in the region.
The kohl pen could push the history of makeup back by 3,000 years. It would predate similar discoveries from Egypt and transform our understanding of beauty practices in ancient Anatolia.
The Yeşilova Mound is located in the Bornova district of İzmir, Turkey, roughly 75 miles west of Göbekli Tepe, the world’s oldest temple. The settlement was discovered in 2003, and since then, it has been under excavation.
An archaeology team led by Zafer Derin, an associate professor at Ege University, has made several interesting finds at the site. Overall, the team has unearthed nine villages dating as far back as 8,500 years.
They also found the remains of sea bream, sea urchins, oysters, mussels, and a deadly species of stingray, confirming that seafood was an important part of the people’s diet.
In addition, they uncovered ashes from cooking fires and the remains of reeds used to make huts.
The most recent artifact unearthed from the site was a kohl pen with a point at one end that measures roughly 3.7 inches. Ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks have been known to use kohl for aesthetic purposes.
Men and women alike would line their eyes with the black pigment. The discovery of kohl in ancient Anatolia reveals that the practice must have reached that region of Turkey.
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