Teeth Offer Clues to Human Diet Evolution LiveScience (5/9/08)
On 06 April 2006 it was announced that the earliest dental instruments had been found in Pakistan:
Prehistoric Dental Instruments Found in Pakistan
-- Ker Than (Thursday, April 06, 2006) -- FOXNews
"Scientists found 11 teeth from the skeletons of 4 females, 2 males and 3 individuals of unknown gender in a [9,000-year-old] cemetery in Pakistan's Baluchistan province that show signs of having undergone painful dental procedures."
From our friends at Texas A&M Anthropology in the News . . .
(Fricday , 10 November 2006)
Not Just Nuts and Berries for These Hominids
Science (11/9/06)
One of the the teeth of four individuals of Paranthropus robustus
(also known as Australopithecus robustus)
from the Swartkrans Cave in South Africa.
(Science)
Australopithecus robustu
Paranthropus in southern Africa 1 million years ago.
Roberto Macchiarelli
University of Poitiers
"Researchers using a bow and flint-tipped drill to bore through a tooth." |
Roberto Macchiarelli
University of Poitiers
"A close-up of the reconstructed drill boring into a tooth." |
Roberto Macchiarelli
University of Poitiers
"A Neolithic molar that shows signs of having been worked on by a prehistoric dentist." |
"Analysis of the teeth shows prehistoric dentists had a go at curing toothache with drills made from flint heads. . . ."
"A total of eleven drilled crowns were found, with one example showing evidence of a complex procedure involving tooth enamel removal followed by carving of the cavity wall. . . ."
"The form of dental treatment seen at Mehrgarh [Pakistan] continued for about 1,500 years, before the practice was stopped in the area. . . ." -- (11/04/2001) BBCNews
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- 9,000-Year-Old Drilled Teeth Are Work of Stone Age Dentists (April 05, 2006) -- National Geographic News
- Stone age man used dentist drill, Stone age people in Pakistan were using dental drills made of flint 9,000 years ago, according to archaeologists -- (Thursday, April 06, 2006) BBCNews
- Ancient humans opened wide SCIENCE: Researchers discover humans drilled teeth 9,000 years ago (Thursday, April 06, 2006) -- Duluth News-TribUniverse
- Other evidence was first reported about 5 years ago
Ancient Middle America
other on-line resources
dentistry history -- Wikipedia
search dentistry history on JSTOR
to top of page / A-Z index
"The procedure [in Pakistan] could not have had an aesthetic purpose, since its results were not easily visible, [Roberto Macchiarelli, a paleoanthropologist at the Université de Poitiers and lead author of the study] added." -- National Geographic News
Later on, prehistoric Post Classic Maya people began drilling and filing their teeth for beauty's sake. They carved their teeth and inlaid them with jade.
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" This Maya jaw was found on Ambergris Caye [Belize]. Take a close look at the shape to which the teeth were carved. Originally, the upper and lower teeth would have fit together like a zipper."
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"Mayan jade inlay in an anterior tooth,
circa A.D. 900." -- ADA
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Question:
"What do you supposed happened between the Neolithic and the time of the Post Classic prehistoric Maya to have people adapt prehistoric dentistry from fixing problem teeth to fixing up teeth just for looks"?
to top of page / A-Z index
- Other on-Line Resources
- Ancient humans opened wide SCIENCE: Researchers discover humans drilled teeth 9,000 years ago (Thursday, April 06, 2006) -- Duluth News-TribUniverse
- Contemporary Dentistry and Dental Health
MedLinePlus: Dental Health --
National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health
- Dental Microwear -- Peter Ungar, U. of Arkansas
- Drilled Tooth Abstract --
White TD, DeGusta D, Richards GD, Baker SG
- Evidence for Tooth Drilling in Neolithic Mehrgarh, Pakistan --
About > Education > Archaeology >
- Flint Drills Kept Stone-Age Smiles Bright: Evidence of sophisticated, 9,000-year-old dentistry unearthed in Pakistan --
Health News
- Head Shaping and Dental Decoration Among the Ancient Mayans -- Dr. Vera Tiesler Blos
- History of Dentistry -- American Dental Association (ADA)
- History of Dentistry -- Indian Dental Association
to top of page / A-Z index
- CHEMISTRY AND HOMINID FOSSILS: How to extract information about diet from those ancient teeth and bones (isotopic analysis to reconstruct diet) -- Dr Julia Lee-Thorp
- 9,000-Year-Old Drilled Teeth Are Work of Stone Age Dentists (April 05, 2006) -- National Geographic News
- 9000-Year-Old Dental Drill Is Found -- AOL News
- A pre-Columbian cavity - evidence of prehistoric dentistry -- Discover , Dec, 1997
- Prehistoric Dental Instruments Found in Pakistan -- Ker Than (Thursday, April 06, 2006) -- FOXNews
- Prehistoric dentistry evidence found: Tiny holes found in teeth suggest even prehistoric an may have had to fear the dentist's drill -- (11/04/2001) BBCNews
- Prehistoric Trip to the Dentist Had to Hurt -- CNN (4/5/06)
- Research Digs Up Examples of Ancient Dentistry -- NPR (4/6/06)
- Researchers say prehistoric man invented dental drill 9000 year -- Discovery Channel
- Stone age man used dentist drill: Stone age people in Pakistan were using dental drills made of flint 9,000 years ago, according to archaeologists -- (Thursday, April 06, 2006) BBCNews
- Yeeowww! Prehistoric Dentists Used Stone Drills -- LiveScience (4/5/06)
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© 1998 - 2008 Timothy G. Roufs
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