According to Swedish scientists, hunter-gatherers have been chewing gum for nearly ten thousand years. Chewed remains reveal a lot about how Stone Age people ate and preserved their teeth.
The gum is made from the bitumen of birch bark. The pieces show clear tooth marks. It is likely that gum was used as a type of glue to make tools and weapons.
Archaeologists found the chewed pieces thirty years ago north of the Swedish city of Gothenburg. Skeletons were also found nearby. They are about 9,700 years old. The teeth of some skeletons match fingerprints found on chewing gum.
Both men and women chewed pieces of bark, says lead researcher Anders Gutherström Scientific reports. The DNA found indicates that it was mainly chewed by teenagers.
“People may also have chewed the bark because they liked it, or because they thought it had medicinal powers,” Gutherstrom says.
Chewing gum also shows dental problems
Thanks to the DNA left on chewing gum, scientists can learn a lot about what and how people ate in the late Stone Age. Scientists discovered that people at that time ate deer, trout, duck, fox, apples, and hazelnuts, among other things.
Chewing gum also shows that people sometimes suffer from dental problems. For example, a teenage girl developed severe gum disease, as evidenced by the number of bacteria on the piece she chewed.
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