"Having access to the team's research was a really magical moment, Hughes said. This shows how one throwaway item can bring us face to face with the people of the past."
"We now know people chewed tar burnt or heated silver-birch bark for things like relieving toothaches and as glue. It's still used as an adhesive today, sealing breaks in tools and pots."
"We even know [the gum chewer] had brown eyes and hair, which I love because it challenges the assumption that northern Europeans had fair hair and blue eyes. It's such a relatable but profoundly remarkable thing."
Archaeologists in Estonia discovered prehistoric birch tar chewed 10,500 years ago, preserving teeth impressions and saliva traces. The birch tar was produced by dry distillation of silver-birch bark and functioned as both a medicinal chew for toothache relief and a practical adhesive for sealing breaks in tools and pots. Genomic analysis of the preserved saliva recovered DNA indicating the chewer was likely a teenage girl with brown hair and brown eyes. The Institute of Genomics used a modern comparative database containing DNA from about 20% of Estonia’s population to help interpret the ancient genome. Excavations also include medieval artefacts showing pagan fertility imagery integrated with Christian symbolism.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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