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LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Archaeologists excavating the site of a major Roman temple in London have found a sealed box containing a white cream still bearing the fingermarks of the person who last used it, nearly 2,000 years ago.
"This is of major significance," said Museum of London curator Francis Grew on Monday.
The substance, which will now be chemically analyzed, could be face cream or even face paint, he told reporters.
"We are in completely uncharted territory here. Not only is the quality of workmanship of the box exceptional, but to find one in such good condition still sealed and with its original contents will raise huge interest around the world," he added.
Smelling 'cheesy'
Museum conservator Liz Barham who opened the fist-sized cylindrical tin box for the first time on Monday, in front of the world's media, described the smell from the half-full container as "sulphurous" and "cheesy."
The box was found at the bottom of a ditch on the edge of the site of the temple next to the merging of two major roads into Roman London -- Watling Street from the port of Dover and Stane Street from the garrison town of Chichester.
The site -- which last year revealed a stone tablet with the earliest known inscription bearing the Roman name of London -- dates from 50 AD and contained two small temples, a guest house for travellers, plinths for statues and a stone pillar.
"The site has been remarkable. It has revealed far more than we could possibly have expected," said Gary Brown, managing director of Pre-Construct Archaeology, which has been digging the soccer pitch-sized area for the past year.
Shopping complex coming
Apart from the tin box and stone tablet, the site in modern day Southwark about two miles (km) south of central London has also revealed pieces of statues, leather shoes and a wooden writing tablet among many other artifacts.
It will disappear under concrete this Summer when construction of a shopping and housing complex starts. <i></i>
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