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Post by OldHippieDude on Jan 6, 2014 18:32:12 GMT -5
Carb-loading rotted ancient hunter-gatherers' teeth, study says:
Excruciating toothaches and pus-filled, swollen gums were a part of life for an ancient population of hunter-gatherers who regularly sat around the campfire feasting on acorns and pine nuts, according to a new study. The starchy foods glommed onto the hunter-gatherers' teeth, providing nourishment to mouth-dwelling bacteria. These bacteria ferment carbohydrates and produce acid that "essentially dissolves away the enamel," Louise Humphrey, a human origins researcher at the Natural History Museum in London, told NBC News. She and colleagues found cavities in more than half of the 52 teeth they examined from adult skeletons in a cemetery at the back of a cave in Morocco, a country in North Africa. The remains date to between 15,000 and 13,200 years ago, several thousand years before the origins of agriculture. Only three skeletons in the Taforalt cave showed no signs of cavities. More Here
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