and/or www.mantra.com/jai (Dr. Jai Maharaj)
2006-04-07 06:42:21 UTC
Ancient India Produced First Dentists, 9,000 Years Ago
Man Was Enduring the Dentist's Drill 9,000 Years Ago
By Kyle Jarrard
International Herald Tribune
New York Times
Wednesday, April 5, 2006
Paris, April 5 - Man's first known trip to the dentist
occurred as early as 9,000 years ago, when at least 9
people living in a Neolithic village in Pakistan had
holes drilled into their molars and survived the
procedure.
The findings, to be reported Thursday in the scientific
review Nature, push back the dawn of dentistry by 4,000
years to around 7000 B.C. The drilled molars come from a
sample of 300 individuals buried in graves at the
Mehrgarh site in western Pakistan, believed to be the
oldest Stone Age complex in the Indus River valley.
"This is certainly the first case of drilling a person's
teeth," said David Frayer, professor of anthropology at
the University of Kansas and the lead author of the
report. "But even more significant, this practice lasted
some 1,500 years and was a tradition at this site. It
wasn't just a sporadic event."
The earliest previously known evidence of dental work
done in vivo was a drilled molar found in a Neolithic
graveyard in Denmark dating from about 3000 B.C.
All 9 of the Mehrgarh dental patients were adults - 4
females, 2 males, and 3 individuals of unknown gender -
and ranged in age from about 20 to over 40. Most of the
drilling was done on the chewing surfaces of their
molars, in both the upper and lower jaws, probably using
a flint point attached to a bow that made a high-speed
drill, the researchers say. Concentric ridges carved by
the drilling device were found inside the holes.
The drilling may have been done to relieve the pain and
damage of tooth rot, but only 4 of the total of 11 teeth
showed signs of decay associated with the holes. The
scientists say it is clear that the holes were not made
for aesthetic reasons, given their position deep in the
mouth and on the erosion-prone surface of the teeth.
While there is no evidence of fillings, the researchers
believe something was used to plug the holes because some
of them were bored deep into the teeth. What that filler
substance was is unknown. The holes ranged in depth from
a shallow half-a-millimeter to 3.5 millimeters, deep
enough to pierce the enamel and enter the sensitive
dentin.
Dental health was poor at Mehrgarh, though the problems
were less often tooth decay than brutal wear and tear.
Roberto Macchiarelli, professor of paleoanthropology at
the University of Poitiers, France, and the report's lead
anthropological researcher, attributed the bad teeth to
the Neolithic diet, which included newly domesticated
wheat and barley.
"A lot of abrasive mineral material was introduced when
grains were ground on a stone," Professor Macchiarelli
said, "and as these people moved to a grain diet, their
teeth wore down, dentin was exposed, and the risk of
infection rose."
The Mehrgarh complex, occupied for 4,000 years, sits
beside the Bolan River in Baluchistan, on a plain that
was repeatedly buried in alluvial deposits that not only
destroyed mud-brick buildings but crushed many skeletons
in the graveyard. The excavation of 300 individuals was
begun by a French team in the 1980's; international
groups followed until 2001, when it became too dangerous
to work in Baluchistan.
None of the individuals with drilled teeth appears to
have come from a special tomb or sanctuary, indicating
that the oral health care they received was available to
anyone in the society.
Professor Frayer said that, given the position of the
holes and the angles of the drilling, "we're pretty sure
these were not self-induced." That the patients lived to
tell the tale of their dental visit is proved, he says,
by subsequent wearing down of their teeth and by
deliberate smoothing and widening of the holes later on.
The dentists may have been highly skilled artisans at
Mehrgarh, where beads of imported lapis lazuli,
turquoise, and carnelian were found drilled with holes
even smaller than the ones in the nine individuals.
Discovered among the beads were finely tipped drill
heads.
"The drilling of teeth is very rare in the
anthropological record," said Professor Macchiarelli,
noting that work similar to that done at Mehrgarh does
not recur until much later, among the Anasazi Indians of
the southwest United States around 1100 A.D., and in
Europe around 1500 A.D.
[The 1,500-year-long tradition of drill work at Mehrgarh
appears not to have been passed down to later cultures.
There is no evidence that the Chalcolithic, or Copper
Age, people who next lived there ever visited the
dentist. Why the practice came to a halt is not known.
More at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/05/science/05cnd-teeth.html
http://www.hinduismtoday.com
Jai Maharaj
http://tinyurl.com/a5ljc
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.
Man Was Enduring the Dentist's Drill 9,000 Years Ago
By Kyle Jarrard
International Herald Tribune
New York Times
Wednesday, April 5, 2006
Paris, April 5 - Man's first known trip to the dentist
occurred as early as 9,000 years ago, when at least 9
people living in a Neolithic village in Pakistan had
holes drilled into their molars and survived the
procedure.
The findings, to be reported Thursday in the scientific
review Nature, push back the dawn of dentistry by 4,000
years to around 7000 B.C. The drilled molars come from a
sample of 300 individuals buried in graves at the
Mehrgarh site in western Pakistan, believed to be the
oldest Stone Age complex in the Indus River valley.
"This is certainly the first case of drilling a person's
teeth," said David Frayer, professor of anthropology at
the University of Kansas and the lead author of the
report. "But even more significant, this practice lasted
some 1,500 years and was a tradition at this site. It
wasn't just a sporadic event."
The earliest previously known evidence of dental work
done in vivo was a drilled molar found in a Neolithic
graveyard in Denmark dating from about 3000 B.C.
All 9 of the Mehrgarh dental patients were adults - 4
females, 2 males, and 3 individuals of unknown gender -
and ranged in age from about 20 to over 40. Most of the
drilling was done on the chewing surfaces of their
molars, in both the upper and lower jaws, probably using
a flint point attached to a bow that made a high-speed
drill, the researchers say. Concentric ridges carved by
the drilling device were found inside the holes.
The drilling may have been done to relieve the pain and
damage of tooth rot, but only 4 of the total of 11 teeth
showed signs of decay associated with the holes. The
scientists say it is clear that the holes were not made
for aesthetic reasons, given their position deep in the
mouth and on the erosion-prone surface of the teeth.
While there is no evidence of fillings, the researchers
believe something was used to plug the holes because some
of them were bored deep into the teeth. What that filler
substance was is unknown. The holes ranged in depth from
a shallow half-a-millimeter to 3.5 millimeters, deep
enough to pierce the enamel and enter the sensitive
dentin.
Dental health was poor at Mehrgarh, though the problems
were less often tooth decay than brutal wear and tear.
Roberto Macchiarelli, professor of paleoanthropology at
the University of Poitiers, France, and the report's lead
anthropological researcher, attributed the bad teeth to
the Neolithic diet, which included newly domesticated
wheat and barley.
"A lot of abrasive mineral material was introduced when
grains were ground on a stone," Professor Macchiarelli
said, "and as these people moved to a grain diet, their
teeth wore down, dentin was exposed, and the risk of
infection rose."
The Mehrgarh complex, occupied for 4,000 years, sits
beside the Bolan River in Baluchistan, on a plain that
was repeatedly buried in alluvial deposits that not only
destroyed mud-brick buildings but crushed many skeletons
in the graveyard. The excavation of 300 individuals was
begun by a French team in the 1980's; international
groups followed until 2001, when it became too dangerous
to work in Baluchistan.
None of the individuals with drilled teeth appears to
have come from a special tomb or sanctuary, indicating
that the oral health care they received was available to
anyone in the society.
Professor Frayer said that, given the position of the
holes and the angles of the drilling, "we're pretty sure
these were not self-induced." That the patients lived to
tell the tale of their dental visit is proved, he says,
by subsequent wearing down of their teeth and by
deliberate smoothing and widening of the holes later on.
The dentists may have been highly skilled artisans at
Mehrgarh, where beads of imported lapis lazuli,
turquoise, and carnelian were found drilled with holes
even smaller than the ones in the nine individuals.
Discovered among the beads were finely tipped drill
heads.
"The drilling of teeth is very rare in the
anthropological record," said Professor Macchiarelli,
noting that work similar to that done at Mehrgarh does
not recur until much later, among the Anasazi Indians of
the southwest United States around 1100 A.D., and in
Europe around 1500 A.D.
[The 1,500-year-long tradition of drill work at Mehrgarh
appears not to have been passed down to later cultures.
There is no evidence that the Chalcolithic, or Copper
Age, people who next lived there ever visited the
dentist. Why the practice came to a halt is not known.
More at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/05/science/05cnd-teeth.html
http://www.hinduismtoday.com
Jai Maharaj
http://tinyurl.com/a5ljc
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.