Early Neolithic tradition of dentistry

A R O U N D T H E W O R L D Dig turns up dark end of a loving Flintstones family A set of ancient skeletons discovered in Germany has demonstrated that, just like the Flintstones, Stone Age humans formed nuclear families. Genetic analysis of four bodies found in a 4,600-year-old grave shows that they belonged to a mother, a father and their two sons, who were buried together in one another’s arms. The Neolithic remains, which belong to a man aged between 40 and 60, a woman aged between 35 and 50, and boys aged 4 to 5 and 8 to 9, provide the earliest firm evidence for the existence of nuclear family units. Details of the excavations, at Eulau, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read more at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article5176343.ece Jawbone of oldest known European found in Spain Scientists have found a jawbone belonging to the oldest known human inhabitants of Europe who lived in a lush, game-rich region of what is now northern Spain about 1.2 million years ago. The researchers who made the discovery at the archaeological site of Atapuerca have provisionally placed the first residents of the continent in a species called Homo antecessor, or "pioneer man", which was first named 10 years ago from remains found in one of the limestone caves at the same site. Read more at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/jawbone-of-oldest-known-european-found-in-spain-801227.html Romulus and Remus cave may have been found: experts Italian archaeologists believe they have found the cave where, according to legend, a she-wolf nursed Romulus and Remus, the twin founders of Rome. An underground cavity decorated with seashells, colored marble mosaics and pumice stones was discovered near the ruins of the palace of Emperor Augustus on the Palatine hill. Experts say they are "reasonably certain" it is the long-lost place of worship sacred to ancient Romans and known as Lupercale, from the Latin word for wolf. Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSL2069138320071120 Bull Int Assoc Paleodont. Volume 2, Number 2, 2008 30 A R O U N D Researcher Discovers 'Giant Frog T H E W O R L D Early Neolithic tradition of dentistry From Hell' A team of researchers, led by Stony Brook University paleontologist David Krause, Ph.D., has discovered in Madagascar the remains of what may be the largest frog ever to exist. Moreover, the 16-inch, 10-pound ancient frog, scientifically named Beelzebufo, or devil frog, links a group of frogs that lived 65 to 70 million years ago to some types living today in South America. Prehistoric evidence for the drilling of human teeth in vivo has so far been limited to isolated cases from less than six millennia ago. Here we describe eleven drilled molar crowns from nine adults discovered in a Neolithic graveyard in Pakistan that dates from 7,500–9,000 years ago. These findings provide evidence for a long tradition of a type of proto-dentistry in an early farming culture. Read more at: Read more at: http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/537767/ http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7085/full/440755a.html 'Gauguin's teeth' found down well Many art collectors would give their eye teeth for a painting by Paul Gauguin but how much would they give for his teeth? Four rotten molars, which may have belonged to the French Post-Impressionist, have been found by archaeologists at the bottom of a well that the painter built on the remote island of Hiva Oa, on the Marquese islands in the Pacific Ocean. According to the Gauguin specialist Caroline Boyle-Turner, there is strong possibility that the teeth belonged to the quarrelsome, syphilitic painter. They almost certainly came from a European mouth, she says, because they are severely decayed. Marquese islanders of a century ago did not eat sugar and their teeth did not decay. The well, dug beside a hut used by Gauguin, was used to dump debris from his home but was sealed just after his death. Read more at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/gauguins-teeth-found-down-well-761713.html Ancestor of T-Rex dinosaur unearthed in Poland Paleontologists digging in a brickyard in southern Poland have discovered the remains of a dinosaur they say is a previously unknown ancestor of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The predator dinosaur, given the working name "the Dragon", lived around 200 million years ago, team member Doctor Tomasz Sulej of the Polish Science Academy, told Reuters. It was five meters (yards) long and moved on two legs. Its longest teeth were 7 centimeters (2 inches) long. Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSL148207720080802?sp=true Bull Int Assoc Paleodont. Volume 2, Number 2, 2008 31