Neanderthal dentist drilled into decayed tooth almost 60,000 years ago

{"text":[[{"start":9.2,"text":"A Neanderthal dentist manipulated a sharp stone to drill decay out of an infected tooth 59,000 years ago, more than 40,000 years before the first evidence of modern humans carrying out primitive dentistry, according to a study in Russia."}],[{"start":25.1,"text":"Researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences examined a molar excavated from Chagyrskaya cave, a site in southwestern Siberia rich in Neanderthal fossils. The tooth had a deep central hole extending into the cavity that once held living material."}],[{"start":40.900000000000006,"text":"Their analysis, published in the journal PLOS One, showed the cavity was not just a consequence of natural decay. The shape and internal scratching were consistent with being created by a small pointed tool made from local jasper stone. "}],[{"start":54.25000000000001,"text":"“The technique involved drilling or rotating motions, not just scraping or picking,” said Lydia Zotkina, one of the research team. “That requires fine motor control and planning.”"}],[{"start":66.45,"text":"After the decayed tissue was removed, the hole might have been filled with an antiseptic or painkilling material such as wax, resin or bitumen, the researchers said, but this left no detectable trace on the fossilised tooth."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":80.45,"text":"Although the use of thin twigs, grass stems or quills as toothpicks to clean between teeth is known to date back tens of thousands of years, the previous oldest evidence of active dentistry came from a 14,000-year-old tooth at a Paleolithic site in Italy, which had decay removed by scraping with a flint tool."}],[{"start":100.6,"text":"Alisa Zubova, who led the analysis of the tooth known as Chagyrskaya 64, said the findings strengthened the view that Neanderthals had cognitive ability, manual dexterity and social support comparable with modern humans. "}],[{"start":114.25,"text":"“Because Neanderthals were long viewed as a more primitive branch of the human family, care for community members has been and continues to be regarded as something exceptional,” she said. “But as the evidence mounts, it increasingly suggests that Neanderthals treated their sick and weak no differently than modern humans did.”"}],[{"start":133.95,"text":"Her colleague Kseniya Kolobova added: “The individual with the infected molar would have been in significant pain, perhaps unable to chew properly, which could lead to malnutrition or infection spreading to the jawbone."}],[{"start":147.14999999999998,"text":"“Another group member, possibly with experience in fine tool production, used a small perforator to carefully drill into the tooth . . . You need good manual dexterity, patience and a helper who can hold the head still.”"}],[{"start":160.34999999999997,"text":"She urged palaeontologists worldwide to re-examine Neanderthal collections to look for other traces of dental intervention: “We may have missed many because we weren’t looking for them.”"}],[{"start":172.84999999999997,"text":"Roger Forshaw, an expert on ancient dentistry at the University of Manchester who was not involved in the study, praised the way the researchers had used several analytical methods to demonstrate deliberate modification of the tooth with stone implements. "}],[{"start":188.69999999999996,"text":"But he cautioned against drawing broad interpretations about Neanderthal practices from a single specimen: “While the evidence appears consistent with intentional manipulation of a painful carious lesion, it is harder to demonstrate that this represents ‘dentistry’ or sophisticated medical treatment in the modern sense.” "}],[{"start":208.44999999999996,"text":"Forshaw said that, though it might be safer to interpret the evidence as an attempt to relieve pain rather than formal dental care, “the study adds to the growing body of evidence that Neanderthals engaged in deliberate behaviours previously thought more closely associated with modern humans”."}],[{"start":223.99999999999997,"text":"The last Neanderthals died out about 40,000 years ago, but their genetic legacy lives on. People of European and Asian origin carry 1 to 2 per cent of Neanderthal DNA — a result of interbreeding with ancestral modern humans. "}],[{"start":248.09999999999997,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1778899699_7385.mp3"}