Wednesday, October 22, 2014

The Real Scoop on Ancient Cosmetics and Health


I will be adding to this post.

2014
"The History of Cancer", color and bolding added by me
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-basics/history-of-cancer/what-is-cancer.html
"Our oldest description of cancer (although the word cancer was not used) was discovered in Egypt and dates back to about 3000 BC. It’s called the Edwin Smith Papyrus and is a copy of part of an ancient Egyptian textbook on trauma surgery. It describes 8 cases of tumors or ulcers of the breast that were removed by cauterization with a tool called the fire drill. The writing says about the disease, “There is no treatment.”

2016

"Earliest hominin cancer: 1.7-million-year-old osteosarcoma from Swartkrans Cave, South Africa", bolding added by me
"Such tumours are not related to lifestyle ... often occur in younger individuals ... malignancy has a considerable antiquity in the fossil record, as evidenced by this specimen" 

2014 

"BBC News - Ancient skeleton is the earliest case of cancer yet detected
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26627941 

2011 

"Mummy Has Oldest Case of Prostate Cancer in Ancient Egypt", @NewsfromScience
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2011/10/mummy-has-oldest-case-prostate-cancer-ancient-egypt 

2007 

"Oldest known case of metastasizing prostate carcinoma diagnosed in the skeleton of a 2,700-year-old Scythian king from Arzhan (Siberia, Russia).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17918181 
"The diagnosis mainly rests on the results of the microscopic examination of the lesions and the positive evidence of PSA, which is an important marker for the diagnosis of prostate cancer. It is remarkable that, in this ancient case, the morphological pattern at the microlevel is the same as in recent cases." 

Cancer is NOT a modern disease! 


"Cosmetics in Ancient Egypt

http://www.levity.com/alchemy/islam23.html
(for grey hair) "blood of a black ox or calf was boiled in oil to transfer the blackness of the animal to the greying hair, or the black horn of a gazelle was made into an unguent with oil to prevent grey hairs from appearing."
Neither remedy worked. Hair was also dyed in ancient Egypt. Animal horn continues to be used today in equally ineffective "magic" remedies. Rhino horn, bear parts or elephant tusks, there is no reputable science (evidence) for such "health" remedies, only the death of the animals, those who protect them (park rangers), and the greed for money. 

2014

"Rising murder toll of park rangers calls for tougher laws
http://www.iucn.org/?17196/Rising-murder-toll-of-park-rangers-calls-for-tougher-laws
More details 
https://www.iucn.org/about/union/secretariat/offices/usa/donation_page/
"You can donate directly to IUCN or to our partner organization, IUCN-US. IUCN-US is a charitable U.S. 501 c (3) organization and donations to IUCN-US are tax-deductible in the United States. You can also donate through the CFC, through the 1% for the Planet program, or in other ways" 

2011 

"A Review of the Use of Mercury in Historic and Current Ritualistic and Spiritual Practices", full text, bolding added by me 
http://nj.gov/health/ommh/documents/diverse_culture/reviewof_use2011.pdf
"evidence that mercury has been used in ethno-medical and magico-religious rituals and spiritualistic practices in China and India since before the historical record ... mercury has been found in Egyptian tombs dating back to 1,500 BC

2010

"Ancient Egypt’s Toxic Makeup Fought Infection, Researchers Say
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/science/19egypt.html?_r=1&
"the scientists say the makeup is not something that should be used today" 

2014 

"Products Kohl, Kajal, Al-Kahal, or Surma: By Any Name, Beware of Lead Poisoning", @US_FDA 
http://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/productsingredients/products/ucm137250.htm 

"NOTES TO CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA, George Bernard Shaw, 2012 EBook 

See "CLEOPATRA'S CURE FOR BALDNESS
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3329/3329-h/3329-h.htm
"I give a couple of the remedies she actually believed in. They are quoted by Galen from Cleopatra's book on Cosmetic."
"For bald patches, powder red sulphuret of arsenic and take it up with oak gum, as much as it will bear. Put on a rag and apply, having soaped the place well first. I have mixed the above with a foam of nitre, and it worked well." Several other receipts follow, ending with: "The following is the best of all, acting for fallen hairs, when applied with oil or pomatum; acts also for falling off of eyelashes or for people getting bald all over ... Of domestic mice burnt, one part; of vine rag burnt, one part; of horse's teeth burnt, one part; of bear's grease one; of deer's marrow one; of reed bark one ... pounded when dry, and mixed with plenty of honey til it gets the consistency of honey; then the bear's grease and marrow to be mixed ... the medicine to be put in a brass flask, and the bald part rubbed til it sprouts." 
Cleopatra's actual "book on Cosmetic" has never been found. Today, quacks invoke her name to sell healing crystals (which have no proven effectiveness), and various other "ancient" remedies attributed to her. 

2010

Ancient Egyptians discarded the human brain in preparation for the afterlife.
http://historyofneuroscience.umwblogs.org/early-history-of-nueroscience/ancient-egypt/

Scammers rebuff critical thinking regarding their products and services. 


Ancient Egyptians used religious beliefs with medical practices for healing, the first often when there was no medical treatment for an illness but there is no evidence they were used as medicine! 


1976

"Ancient Egyptian gems only glass", by Eric Pace, "Cairo (NYT)" New York Times, color and bolding added by me 
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19760725&id=XfdLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ne0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3764,3449782&hl=en
"Experts from New York and Cairo museums, examining ... jewelry of the ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamen ... found ... many stones that were earlier reported to be costly lapis lazuli and turquoise, are in fact pieces of colored glass. ... Metropolitan's director Thomas P. Hoving said ... what mattered in judging ancient Egyptian jewelry was not the sort of stones it was set with but "It's overall design-the language of the shapes."  2 more stones named in the link as examples of actually being made of glass - "carnelian and feldspar". 

More on all of that below 

2004 
"Egyptian Amulets", color and bolding added by me 
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/egam/hd_egam.htm
"In ancient Egypt, amulets might be carried, used in necklaces, bracelets, or rings ... placed among a mummy’s bandages to ensure the deceased a safe, healthy, and productive afterlife. ... Symbols and deities generally conferred the powers they represent. ... Magic contained in an amulet could be understood not only from its shape. Material, color, ... words said or ingredients rubbed over the amulet could all be the source for magic granting the possessor’s wish.

Related 
2006
"In Search of Desert Glass", color and bolding added by me, @WorldArchaeo
http://www.world-archaeology.com/world/africa/egypt/in-search-of-desert-glass.htm
"unique ... yellow-green glass occurs in ‘the Great Sand Sea’... the Egyptian Sahara. ... first documented in 1932 by Peter Clayton, a topographer for the Geological Department of the Survey of Egypt. ... clear that locals have known about this type of glass for thousands of years. ... Italian archaeologist and geologist Vincenzo de Michele ... expert on the yellow-green silica glass. In 1996 ... noted that a scarab in the centre of a pectoral in the Tutankhamun exhibit in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo appeared to be made of this unusual glass. ... listed as being the mineral chalcedony, when de Michele was granted access to test it, he found it to be consistent with desert glass samples found in the Great Sand Sea. In another room of the Egyptian Museum ... he discovered ... a knife – roughly four inches long and estimated to be about 5,000 years old – was also found to be made of the same glass. ... various people travelling through the Great Sand Sea had reported finding pieces of the glass that had been worked. ... the question of the origin of the glass still remained unanswered. ... uranium testing has established that the glass was formed nearly 30 million years ago.

2013 
"Libyan Desert Glass: Diamond-Bearing Pebble Provides Evidence of Comet Striking Earth", color and bolding added by me, @scinewscom
http://www.sci-news.com/space/science-libyan-desert-glass-diamond-bearing-pebble-evidence-comet-01446.html
"comet entered the atmosphere above Egypt about 28.5 million years ago. It exploded, heating up the sand beneath ... resulting in the formation of a huge amount of yellow silica glass ... Libyan Desert Glass. ... specimen of the Libyan Desert Glass, polished by ancient jewelers, is found in Tutankhamun’s brooch with its striking ... scarab. Prof Jan Kramers from the University of Johannesburg, a lead author of the paper published online in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, and his co-authors analyzed the diamond-bearing pebble ‘Hypatia,’ named in honor of the first well known female mathematician, astronomer and philosopher, Hypatia of Alexandria."
Modern science and open minds know no borders!  

The the color of Libyan Desert Glass varies.

http://www.saharagems.com/libyan-desert-glass.html

Crystal/gemstone/Libyan Desert Glass "healing" is "ripened" Z-ray fraud renamed! The exact same fraud and promos for new victims!

https://twitter.com/ktanimara/status/785837541131972608 

Ancient Egyptians used colored glass to simulate precious stones and crystals, as well as real crystals and gems as protection in amulets and jewelry. All were used because of religious beliefs, with no reputable evidence offered by quacks any were successfully used as medicine. Quacks defile ancient religious beliefs with their fraud, the same way other terrorists defile religions, and harm and kill. 

The fraud put forth by quacks that crystals were worn in ancient Greece for actual protection fails too with the truth being very different! 

"Glass rings and bracelets", color and some bolding added by me  
http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/705252
"Period: Hellenistic and Imperial ... Date: 3rd century B.C. –4th century A.D. ... Culture: Greek and Roman ... In prehistoric times, naturally occurring glass, called obsidian ... used not only for weapons and tools but also for objects of personal adornment. After the invention of glassmaking, similar objects were fashioned in man-made glass, or a combination of glass and other precious materials. Hellenistic jewelry ... intricate gold patterns augmented by bits of semi-precious stone and colorful inlay elements. ... Romans greatly favored the use of stone and glass in their jewelry ... expanded the Hellenistic tradition ... Romans used glass extensively to imitate precious stones such as emerald, sardonyx, and amethyst, since glass was much easier to carve and the glassmaker had full control over colors and patterns.

"Jade in Mesoamerica

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jade2/hd_jade2.htm

2014 

"Mineral spirits: Turquoise magic at MIAC",  color and bolding added by me, @PasaTweet
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/pasatiempo/art/museum_shows/mineral-spirits-turquoise-magic-at-miac/article_38e26f1e-ae30-5929-b0a8-488d7fa59735.html
"small group of artifacts discovered at U-Bar Cave in southwestern New Mexico. ... 700-year-old wooden pendants ... painted ... to resemble turquoise. Although this kind of simulacrum, ersatz turquoise, is not very common in Southwestern archaeology, other examples are known, including a large number of wooden objects discovered at various Chaco Canyon sites over the past century. Exhibition curator Maxine McBrinn ... wooden pendants are not fakes in the modern Western sense of objects created with the intent to deceive; rather, they were painted blue to evoke turquoise. Anthropological and ethnological accounts of Pueblo Indians, including Elsie Clews Parsons’ Pueblo Indian Religion (1939), stress the role of painting in ritually activating objects such as kachina masks. ... for many Native peoples of this region, turquoise’s color connects it by complex chains of metaphors to water and rain, the sky, fertility, and health. ... much turquoise must be treated in one way or other to be usable by jewelers. McBrinn emphasized ... pure untreated turquoise of the highest quality is prohibitively costly for both artists and consumers. ... Stabilized turquoise is widely used in Southwestern Native jewelry, and no one considers the stones to be fakes." 

2005 

"Turquoise: Sky Blue Wonder of the World", By Ken Casey, color and bolding added by me 
http://www.delminsociety.net/motm/motm_sep2005.htm
"The color ‘turquoise’ flavors the lore of history ... “Wadj, the word for green, which also meant to flourish or be healthy, was used for the papyrus plant as well as for the green stone malachite. Green malachite was a symbol of joy. In a larger reference, the phrase "field of malachite" was used when speaking of the land of the blessed dead. ... Another green stone, which was a favorite among Egyptians, was turquoise. The word for this greenish stone was mefkat, which meant joy or delight. ... In ancient Egypt, if no turquoise could be found, glazed quartz was used as a substitute. It was the representation of the color, more than the actual material itself that mattered.

Lots of great information in the 2 articles above, minus quack FRAUD! The quoted text confirms information above them. I chose to concentrate on 2 elements, health and with the first article, turquoise treatment. There is much more in both articles to enjoy. Throughout the world turquoise has associations with health, also with no reputable evidence any were successfully used as medicine. Quacks lie, misinform to make sales, disrespecting cultural beliefs, and putting lives at risk for money, and their egos, not caring!  


2006

"Debunking Crystal Healing", color and bolding added by me 
http://recursed.blogspot.ca/2006/05/debunking-crystal-healing.html 
"If you and your friends make claims about crystal healing, then the onus is on you, not me." (regarding proof) TRUE! All replies to comments are still valid - there is still no proof!

"James Randi debunks Crystal Power and Applied Kinesiology"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RApN8veicPI&feature=youtu.be @YouTube
Rat poison worked the SAME!

1964 

Ancient dandruff remedy includes hippopotamus fat and fish oil 
https://books.google.ca/books?id=Y84UAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=ancient+Egyptians+used+animal+fats+in+cosmetics+and+vegetable+oils&source=bl&ots=TgT0qDyggG&sig=bXZug2VBzJZMhxEtX0b5SHAz3LI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=H7RGVJHfAbOI8QHMvYDAAQ&ved=0CEoQ6AEwBw#v=snippet&q=dandruff&f=false  
See also for spots on the face and wrinkles "gall of ox" and "red ochre". Red ochre was also used to color lips and cheeks - you can text search on the left, then click on found text to expand. 

Related: Neither diet nor the medicines available were sufficient to prevent, treat/cure diseases present!

2002 
"Health conditions before Columbus: paleopathology of native North Americans", 2002, color and bolding added by me 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071659/
"Diseases ... treponemiasis and tuberculosis were already present in the New World, along with ... tularemia, giardia, rabies, amebic dysentery, hepatitis, herpes, pertussis, and poliomyelitis ... Archaeologic remains show that native groups were not living in a pristine, disease-free environment before contact with Europeans" 

After European contact? 

2015 
"How Europeans brought sickness to the New World", color and bolding added by me, @NewsfromScience
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/06/how-europeans-brought-sickness-new-world 
"doctor finally flew in 6 days later, he treated them for what turned out to be a relatively mild virus ... tribesmen recovered ... FUNAI officials say ... to avoid repeating the tragic history of epidemics, they need the resources for competent and skilled interventions." 

2013 

"The Cultural Implications of European Disease on New World Populations: With Primary Focus on the Abenaki, Powhatan, and Taino Groups.", color and bolding added by me 
http://www.monroecc.edu/fileadmin/SiteFiles/GeneralContent/events/scholarsday/documents/rivera-finaldraft.pdf
"Native Americans and their ancestors’ immune systems were never equipped to handle European infections, the diseases annihilated millions before they ever saw the “pale faced” explorers." 

Before and after European contact 

2006 
"The Persistence of American Indian Health Disparities", color and bolding added by me 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1698152/
"American Indians struggled with ill health even before Europeans arrived. Although pre-Columbian populations were spared the ravages of smallpox, measles, influenza, and many other infections, they did not inhabit a disease-free paradise. Careful analyses of skeletal remains have revealed many diseases, including tuberculosis and pneumonia."  

2015 

"Why the rest of the world doesn’t suffer from leprosy like India does", color and bolding added by me, @qzindia
http://qz.com/328951/why-indias-poor-continue-to-be-ravaged-by-the-worlds-oldest-disease/
"primary treatment for leprosy—a triple antibiotic course called Multidrug Therapy (MDT)—is provided free of cost by the government ... Leprosy ... chronic infectious disease ... afflicted mankind since civilisation itself. ... thought to have originated in East Africa or South Asia in the Late Pleistocene ... migrated to India around 2000 BC. ... once detected and treated by MDT, in 98% of cases, leprosy ceases to be contagious and can be cured in six to 12 months. ... detected too late ... leprosy can cause nerve damage and conditions such as erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL), a painful immune-mediated reaction causing fever and angry inflammation of the skin, eyes and joints, which calls for powerful steroids or thalidomide, and continuous follow-up visits. ... study doesn’t quantify stigma as an indirect cost ... authors acknowledge that it has grave impacts, the most damaging of which is a delay in treatment. “There’s a huge stigma and superstitious beliefs floating around.” ... “India has been reporting about 130,000 new cases a year"  

The ONLY cure for leprosy is the MODERN drug treatment/therapy MDT, and it MUST be given in time to cure it without ongoing, costly complications. Superstition, myth, and quackery (FRAUD) are NOT medicines! Medicines (drugs) are government approved and regulated, as are vaccines, and medical devices.  


"Breakthroughs made in ovarian cancer research" 2014, @ScienceDaily  

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140808111946.htm

Breakthrough in acne research, full text, 2013 

http://www.jidonline.org/article/S0022-202X(15)36405-8/fulltext 
"As P. acnes is the major skin ... bacterium found in both acne and healthy skin, this strain-level analysis is important to help understand the role of P. acnes in acne pathogenesis and in skin health." 

Facts are far more interesting than the scams - FRAUD used to romanticize and lie about ancient times, to sell UNPROVEN safe and effective treatments and preventatives.