It’s not every day that a small eyeliner bottle changes our understanding of Roman-era travel. But that’s exactly what happened when archeologist Hillary Cool identified an Egyptian glass kohl bottle in York, England.

The bottle was discovered during excavations by the York Archaeological Trust at Tanner Row, an excavation site which was a dumping ground during the late 2nd century. First uncovered in 1983, it was believed to be a perfume flask distorted by age. Forty years later, however, Dr. Cool was going through the archive and came across images of it. Immediately, she realized that it must be something else entirely. She knew what it was due to her time spent working with glass artifacts from Sudan. Dr. Cool could tell that unlike Roman English perfume bottles from the time, which had thinner walls and followed a more standard shape, this bottle must be from somewhere else.

Kohl eyeliner was a very popular product in Ancient Egypt and Sudan. In depictions from that time, it can be seen around the eyes of nearly everyone. However, it is very ethnographically specific to these regions, so the discovery of a bottle all the way in York, England, has serious implications. “This was not something that was traded widely beyond Egypt and Sudan—if it was, we would get the containers much more frequently,” Dr. Cool states. 

The unearthing of this bottle shows that there must have been some link between Egypt and York. Possible explanations are that it belonged to an Egyptian soldier or an English soldier who had spent time there, but it certainly proves that there was some kind of overlap between these regions during that time. This theory is further supported by the fact that this was not the only Ancient Egyptian item discovered in England. In Leicester, an ivory box engraved with the god Anubis was unearthed, as well as military seals including one from Egypt. Put together, these objects have serious archeological implications.

While we’ll never know how exactly the kohl bottle found its way to York, the discovery of the nearly 1,800-year-old artifact opens up a fascinating window into movement, trade, and cultural exchange across the Roman Empire.

Fragments of a glass kohl bottle from Egypt dating back 1,800 years was found in York, England.

Sources: A kohl bottle from York may hint at an ancient Egyptian in Roman-Britain; An Egyptian at York?

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