Archaeologists Discover Upside Of Not Flossing
- 3 years ago
A 'new frontier' in archaeology may allow researchers to know the drug use habits of ancient humans.
Science Magazine reports a new technique analyzes drug residue in the tartar of teeth--the hardened plaque that your dentist scrapes off each year.
Tartar traps bits of food, drink, and other substances while a person is living, and it can survive more than 1 million years on fossils.
In fact, Science Magazine reports the crusty stuff has been investigated for decades, mostly to understand the diets of past peoples.
But the new method led to the identification of drug traces on 19th-century skeletons and in 10 recently deceased individuals.
This could allow researchers to trace humanity’s drug habits back hundreds of thousands of years.
Science Magazine reports a new technique analyzes drug residue in the tartar of teeth--the hardened plaque that your dentist scrapes off each year.
Tartar traps bits of food, drink, and other substances while a person is living, and it can survive more than 1 million years on fossils.
In fact, Science Magazine reports the crusty stuff has been investigated for decades, mostly to understand the diets of past peoples.
But the new method led to the identification of drug traces on 19th-century skeletons and in 10 recently deceased individuals.
This could allow researchers to trace humanity’s drug habits back hundreds of thousands of years.