Slashdot Mirror
Student Finds 5000-Year-Old Chewing Gum
itsthebin writes "Sarah Pickin, 23, found the lump of birch bark tar — complete with neolithic tooth prints — on a dig in Finland. Ms Pickin's tutor at the University of Derby, Professor Trevor Brown, said birch bark tar contained phenols, which are antiseptic compounds. 'It is generally believed that neolithic people found that by chewing this stuff if they had gum infections it helped to treat the condition. It's particularly significant because well-defined tooth imprints were found on the gum which Sarah discovered,' he said. Ms Pickin was on a volunteer program at the Kierikki Centre on the west coast of Finland when she made the find."
I tried the same thing when my teacher found me sticking some on the bottom of my desk. She didn't believe me.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
Was it found stuck under the top of a 5000 yr old desk?
In before mention of ABC Gum.
This kind of makes me wonder if anyone 5,000 years from now will ever know that Singapore existed...
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
It seems that they've discovered the mother of all ABC gum.
Double you pleasure, double your fun.
Even the cave man knew that.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
I got my first post stolen... by someone replying to the wrong story. Damn my luck!
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
So, it was the ancient predecessor of mouthwash.
does she run Linux?!
Seems like that photo caption isn't the best place to make that kind of typo!
"No fair, you changed the outcome by measuring it!" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth
What was it's flavour?
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
Nanoparticles. A strange but appropriate nick name for your phallus
Fact: 4 out of 5 neolithic dentists surveyed would recommend birch bark tar to their patients who chew tar.
Might I suggest RTFS?
If you are feeling bold, you could RTFA, or even just look without reading. The gp did and still got first post. He was just tying in another post to this one.
...It is the fossilized apple that Eve bit into in the Garden of Eden.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
could it help me quit smoking?
oh marmalade.
Ms. Pickin was pickin through the dirt? Interesting coincidence.
It was found in a brand new Topps baseball card pack. Topps said "Most of the gum we package with our cards is about 5000-6000 years old."
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
The shadow?
katch@citadel2.tribunemedia.net
...and it still had flavor. Suck on that one Stride!
@AlexSheive
did it lose its flavor yet?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Speaking of ABC (American Broadcasting Company in the U.S.) and neolithic peoples, ABC is going to broadcast a new comedy series this fall based on the Geico Insurance character called "Caveman" (Tuesdays 8pm).
OOOH YEA! my nanoparticles are so hard now! OOOOOOOOOOOOOH YEA BABY!!!
Because of birch tar's long lasting flavor, the average caveman never had to buy another pack. Not so coincidentally, companies began building products with predictable defects. Hence, the birth of a disposable goods society began soon after.
Due to this gum's extreme age, the baseball cards sold with it were all rookies.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
CATS/Diebold '08- All your vote are belong to us!
DOES YOUR CHEWING GUM LOSE ITS FLAVOR ON THE BEDPOST OVERNIGHT?
Based on the 1924 original by Ernest Hare & Billy Jones
"Does The Spearmint Lose Its Flavor On The Bedpost Overnight?
(Marty Bloom / Ernest Breuer / Billy Rose)
Lonnie Donegan - 1958
Also recorded by : Ding Dongs
Oh me oh my oh you
Whatever shall I do?
Hallelujah, the question is peculiar
I'd give a lot of dough
If only I could know
The answer to my question
Is it yes or is it no?
CHORUS:
Does your chewing gum lose its flavour on the bedpost overnight?
If your mother says don't chew it, do you swallow it in spite?
Can you catch it on your tonsils, can you heave it left and right?
Does your chewing gum lose its flavour on the bedpost overnight?
Here comes a blushing bride
The groom is by her side
Up to the altar, just as steady as Gibraltar
The groom has got the ring
And it's such a pretty thing
But as he slips it on her finger
The choir begins to sing:
CHORUS
Now the nation rise as one
To send their wanted son
Up to the White House, yes, the nation's only White House
To voice their discontent
Unto the Pres-I-dent
The bonny burning question, What has swept this continent?
SPOKEN: If tin whistles are made of tin, what do they make fog horns
out of?
(2nd Voice: Boom! Boom!)
CHORUS
On the bedpost overnight
(2nd Voice: Hello there, I love you and the one who holds you tight!)
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sat'day night!
On the bedpost overnight
(2nd Voice: A dollar is a dollar and a dime is a dime!)
He'd sing another chorus but he hasn't got the time!
On the bedpost overnight, yeah!
As a youngster, I used to chew pine gum while walking through the woods to relieve thirst. I wasn't aware of any tooth problems.
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
What? An article about a female who has an interest in the sciences, and no one has commented on that yet? Is this still Slashdot?
--
Won't someone please think of the trolls?
The truly amazing thing was that after tests, the gum still retained it's flavor. "Fabulous."
I've always wondered how "humans" existed for all these years without a toothbrush. You would think they would have cavities and tons of pains. I would guess that a major factor that contributed to the ancient human was that they didn't have sugar treats that would stick to their teeth. Proteins and things can stick to your teeth and cause quite a problem, but not as bad as a bag of skittles and coke can do in a day or two without cleaning the crap off your teeth.
The article continues:
"Scientists also found the tar blob contained traces of ethanol and THC, though they as yet don't know what effect this may have had on the ancient chewing populations."
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Harumph.
the major advances in civilization are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur - A.N. White
Odds of a slashdot reader making a "She's hot!" comment over any female shown in an article = 100%.
(Sorry)
What? You can't be any more exact? I want to know the shape, weight and colour of the seal skins, and who bought them.
Otherwise a nice story. I have to go back and re-read the second paragraph a third time, though. I'm still trying to find Ms. Hossein and Ms. Rumana in the photo.
I'm sorry if I haven't offended anyone
Just got this vision of Fred Flintstone chewing on some Wrigley's DoubleRock gum.
The article doesn't mention the package that was found nearby. It was a wooden box carved with
Grunt Growl Roar
Snort Grumble Grunt!
load "$",8,1
The thing is, no one yet has - and she actually is hot!
I wonder what the going price would be for it on eBay?
See my Home Theater
Just great.... Now the evolutionists are going to build a whole skeleton out of something even less than a single tooth this time. Now it's just a tooth-print. *sigh*
Anyone who's collected baseball cards between 1980 and 1994 knows they've been sticking 5000-year-old chewing gum in wax packs for ages already.
I came here to chew gum and kick ass. And, I am all out of gu....err...wait...what's this?
I bet it's a marketing ploy by Wrigley's for a new line of chewing gums.
In Soviet Russia, articles before post read *you*!
Thank you for verifying my theory.
It is generally believed that neolithic people found that by chewing this stuff if they had gum infections it helped to treat the condition.
Yeah right, and caveman also started drinking wine because it's good for the heart. Russians always pick off birch tar and chew it because it tastes good and gives you something to do. I never heard anything about gum health.
...is could cave men actually walk and chew gum at the same time?
What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?
...is could cave men actually walk upright and chew gum at the same time?
Table-ized A.I.
Listerine also has alcohol in it (the yellow one does, at any rate). On the other hand, green listerine has sorbitol which isn't present in the yellow one. But then again, the blue listerine has zinc chloride. To be on the safe side, use multiple flavors at once, then some Scope to be sure.
However, listerine isn't easily re-usable while this treesap gum could be...
Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
ls
..
lump_of_birch_bark.tar
man tar
tar x lump_of_birch_bark.tar
ls
lump_of_birch_bark.tar
man tar
tar f lump_of_birch_bark.tar
ls
man tar
ls
lump_of_birch_bark.tar
man untar
ls
lump_of_birch_bark.tar
rm lump_of_birch_bark.tar
ls
I guess we need a few characters to get past the whatever program, sort of like generating a pgp key, but that's cool as long as it will post you can safely ignore this line.
I got my first post stolen... by someone replying to the wrong story. Damn my luck!
:-)
They can't chew gum and post at the same time
Table-ized A.I.
Tar is still chewed regularly in Finland 5,000 years later. I just visited a friend who lives outside of Helsinki. He uses "tar" smelling shampoo and drinks tar flavored liquor. I had a few of the tar candies -- personally, I think the stuff has a disgusting flavor/smell -- a horrific combination of charcoal and black licorice.
It's 7000 years old.
Too bad the patents on chewing gum have expired by now.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Everyone was just looking at the cute chick and not RTFcaptions.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Just sent an email to the webmaster, and the changed the word cum to gum, pity though. :P
She's British.
Why do Americans think they can subvert other people's culture?
The loli on the left is hotter though
Student finds 5000-Year-Old Chewing Gum
None of the teachers I had chewed gum.
I've always wondered how the heck humans BEGAN eating some of these things. Who was the first person to think of mixing some noxious plant and animal products, sealing them in a clay jar, burying it in the ground for weeks or months, digging it up and voila...dinner!
Not to show my age or anything...--was it found on a prehistoric bedpost? (Despite the recording made in the 1950's, I think the song originated in the 1920's:) http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/lyrics2/nov_ doeschew.html
You know, a lot of creationists don't believe in the 6,000 year old bunk. The original translation at the start of the Bible refers to 6 periods of time, each of which being millions of years long. Those creationists who cling to the 6,000 year time span are the same type to claim heresy to those who said the world was round. (At least they are up from the 6 day idiosity.) I'm a creationist and yet I believe in evolution. *shock* *gasp* After all, why not have a natural order to things. I see nothing at all wrong with science.
But they still won't be allowed to chew it in class.
10 FILL MUG WITH COFFEE
20 DRINK COFFEE
30 GOTO 10
What a genius story! You can read the full article here by the way http://www.derby.ac.uk/press-office/news-archive/h eres-a-story-to-get-your-teeth-into/