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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."
I tried the same thing when my teacher found me sticking some on the bottom of my desk. She didn't believe me.
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Was it found stuck under the top of a 5000 yr old desk?
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"
So, it was the ancient predecessor of mouthwash.
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.
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.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
Fact: 4 out of 5 neolithic dentists surveyed would recommend birch bark tar to their patients who chew tar.
Change beth to bet and you're just about as close as you can get without actually using hebrew characters...
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
And Gimel is with one m.
At least that's what an Israeli told me.
Clicked pie.
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
...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
Shhh... the creationists are listening.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The sound is closer to Gimmel than Gimel (it's closer to the 'i' in 'is', then the 'i' in 'island'). Anyway, as far as I know there is no official way of spelling Hebrew using English letters. An Israeli would know what you meant with either spelling.
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!
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
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
I wonder what the going price would be for it on eBay?
See my Home Theater
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*!
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.
I'm Greek you insensitive clod! (well, not really...)
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
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.
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.
well you know the creationists can't use a 5000 year old piece of gum because the earth is only 4350 years old!
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
That would not be correct, no matter how you spell it.
ABC gum is actually short for "Already been chewed". Not the alphabet.
Now, I have no idea what the words for that would be in Hebrew, but if they start with A B G, I stand corrected.
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
Eden is in Finland? Who knew!
Most of the locals. Eden is a spa in Nokia.
And besides, wouldn't you rather say that Linux came from land of paradise than from hell.
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!
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/