Go to dentist or having maxillofacial surgeons for many people may be something that arose with our species and our great intellectsince we do not conceive that in prehistoric times our ancestors were worried about their teeth. But now we know that Neanderthals They had dentistsalthough logically with the techniques of the time.
An evolution. Until now we knew that Neanderthals used small wooden sticks to get clean food scraps, something that, to be fair, some modern primates also do. However, a new find In the icy mountains of Siberia, what we thought we knew about prehistoric medicine has just been blown up.
And it was not a simple instinct, since Neanderthals knew how to locate the source of acute pain and use stone tools to perform invasive dental interventions like those they can do to us today. Although logically we no longer have stone as a surgical material.
Patient zero. The discovery that is the protagonist of this story has been named ‘Chagyrskaya 64’, and it is nothing more than a lower left second molar that belonged to an adult who inhabited the Chagyrskaya cave in the Altai massif in Russia. We even know that he belonged to a group that represented the most eastern known Neanderthal populations.
Via: PLOS. Images of the tooth analyzed by the researchers.
A tooth. At first glance, the tooth had a huge and unusual cavity in its upper part where it performs the chewing function. At first, archeology attributed this to the natural wear of the piece due to friction when chewing hard foods or simply from having received a blow.
However, the edges of the cavity were smooth and rounded, so accidental breakage was completely ruled out. Furthermore, the pulp chamber, which is nothing more than the inner part of the tooth, was widened in a way that wear could not explain.
What was happening. The answer to everything centers on the fact that the tooth had a severe cavity that someone tried to cure by force, removing the entire area of the tooth that was in the ‘worst’ condition. And surely the pain that is felt with a cavity of considerable size that reaches the nerve area of the tooth was the trigger for having to do this technique.
Rustic dentistry. To prove that this hole was made on purpose, the research team used micro-computed tomography and extensive traceological analysis to see traces of use. Here what was seen is that the walls of the cavity had V-shaped stepped microgrooves, identical to those left by a perforator lithic, which was a sharp stone tool.
And to confirm this, experts conducted experimental archaeology, replicating the drilling and rotation process on ‘modern’ human molars. And the brands matched perfectly.
A conclusion. With all this information we can know that there was an individual who not only survived the brutal intervention in life, but also continued chewing with that tooth, as demonstrated by the subsequent polishing. It is true that they had no option to ‘cover’ that hole in the tooth as dentists do now after removing the cavity, but it did not prevent him from continuing with his normal life.
A cognitive leap. Beyond the medical anecdote, the reality is that solving a cavity by excavating the infected tissue requires quite complex rational reasoning. Although we see it as easy now, identifying the source of the pain, conceiving the idea that it can be eliminated, selecting the tool for that task and executing precise rotary movements with the fingers is not easy.
That is why this ability separates this behavior from mere animal instinct and shows that Neanderthals were more advanced than many of us had in mind.
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