Bling has been around a long time, it seems
The
glittering "grills" of some hip-hop stars aren't exactly
unprecedented. Sophisticated dentistry allowed Native
Americans to add bling to their teeth as far back as 2,500
years ago, a new study says.
Ancient peoples of
southern North America went to "dentists"—among the earliest
known—to beautify their chompers with notches, grooves, and
semiprecious gems, according to a recent analysis of
thousands of teeth examined from collections in Mexico's
National Institute of Anthropology and History (such as the
skull above, found in Chiapas, Mexico).
Scientists
don't know the origin of most of the teeth in the
collections, which belonged to people living throughout the
region, called Mesoamerica, before the Spanish conquests of
the 1500s.
But it's clear that people—mostly
men—from nearly all walks of life opted for the look, noted
José Concepción Jiménez, an anthropologist at the institute,
which recently announced the findings.
"They were
not marks of social class" but instead meant for pure
decoration, he commented in an e-mail interview conducted in
Spanish.
In fact, the royals of the day—such as the
Red Queen, a Maya mummy found in a temple at Palenque in
what is now Mexico—don't have teeth decorations, Jiménez
said.
Other evidence of early Mesoamerican
dentistry—including a person who had received a ceremonial
denture—has also been found.
Knowledgeable Dentists
The early dentists used a drill-like device with a
hard stone such as obsidian, which is capable of puncturing
bone.
"It's possible some type of [herb based]
anesthetic was applied prior to drilling to blunt any pain,"
Jiménez said.
The ornamental stones—including
jade—were attached with an adhesive made out of natural
resins, such as plant sap, which was mixed with other
chemicals and crushed bones, Jiménez said.
The
dentists likely had a sophisticated knowledge of tooth
anatomy, Jiménez added. For example, they knew how to drill
into teeth without hitting the pulp inside, he said.
"They didn't want to generate an infection or provoke
the loss of a tooth or break a tooth."
Original Article:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/090518-jeweled-teeth-picture.html
