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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."
In before mention of ABC Gum.
Actually, this would have been Aleph Beth Gimmel Gum.
And now someone please correct my spelling of the Hebrew alphabet.
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You may be more correct than you think. Birch sap contains xylitol, the sugar that's actually good for your teeth. It's still used in chewing gum, especially (and almost exclusively) in Finland where it was first discovered but increasingly in other countries as well. Find it in a supermarket near you.
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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.
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I would assume it has a similar flavor to modern day birch bark tar, which is similar to birch beer or root beer... Kind of a wintergreen flavor, but not as minty, if that makes any sense at all.... Loggers commonly used to chew on the stuff, and in my case I tried some whilst in the woods.
The Mayan's (IIRC Might be a different civilization) life expectancy took a major dive with the invention of maize. If you look at the skulls of Mayans around that period you'll find lots of cavities and the like. The theory is that people before this time kept their teeth because they ate things like meat or whole vegetables, things which tended to be a lot tougher and didn't get into crevices in your teeth. With the invention of processed foods like maize people did begin to get cavities and loose their teeth early and then lifespan dive, hence the dive around the time of agricultural development.
No it isn't, you would be amazed at the number of periodontally diseased people who have had major heart attacks, strokes, various autoimmune diseases and type 2 diabetes. Cronic infection and inflammation is serious.
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