Beauty creams used by the ladies of ancient Rome were not far different from those applied to today's fair skins, to judge by a discovery in the remains of a Roman temple in London dating from the second century AD.

Archaeologists found a small container with a whitish medicinal or cosmetic cream made up of animal fat, starch, and tin oxide.

Researchers writing in the latest edition of the British magazine Nature say the unguent "shares some surprising features with modern moisturizing creams."

Bristol University specialist Richard Evershed and his team describe the find, dating from a time when London was the Roman community Londinium, as a landmark in the study of this class of artifact.

It is the only one to be found so far with its lid and contents, providing a unique opportunity to examine the ancient composition.

"Fashionable Roman women aspired to a fair complexion, and the Londinium cream may have served as a foundation layer," say the researchers.

Analysis had revealed cattle or sheep as a fat source.

The scientists synthesized a substance composed of the same ingredients and obtained a similar white cream.

"This cream had a pleasant texture when rubbed into the skin," the report said: "Although it felt greasy initially, owing to the fat melting as a result of body heat, this was quickly overtaken by the smooth powdery texture created by the starch: remarkably, starch is still used for his purpose in modern cosmetics."

The tin was available from the ancient Cornish tin industry in the west of England.

Unless the tin compound had been added owing to some hitherto unrecognized medicinal attribute, the researchers write, "we must conclude that its function was solely as a pigment."

Although lead was used by the ancient Romans as a cosmetic, the nontoxic properties of tin oxide would have been desirable because by the second century the dangers of lead were becoming recognized, the report concluded.