Health and cosmetics in the Bronze Age. Evidence from the Vallese di Oppeano site

SEM-EDS, XRF and MicroRaman analyses were carried out on 20 miniaturistic vessels' residues (from Ancient Bronze Age (4C) to Middle Bronze Age (4D)) from 2 contiguous settlements in the Vallese di Oppeano site. Analyses from the inside of the artifacts revealed the presence of ocher (red pigment), from the oxidizing technological process in carbonaceous ceramics, produced with firing in a reducing environment. Vivianite, or a hydrated iron phosphate mineral (blue pigment), was also recorded. It may be formed by the interaction of phosphates, from ground bones, with divalent iron, from percolating waters, or obtained by cooking ocher added to bones with which to produce the blue pigment. Furthermore, pollen analysis of soil sediments from the settlement 4D of the site revealed indications of the flora and among the seventy plants of precise identification, present in the area, remedies emerge for the most common ailments. Centuries later, the health properties of these plants will be codified by Theophrastus, Plinius and Dioscorides.