About 9,700 years ago, a group of Mesolithic hunters and gatherers camped on the Scandinavian coast, north of present-day Gothenburg, Sweden. They hunted there, fished and procured sustenance and entertainment, which was probably as important then as it is today. This group also included adolescents who chewed birch resin. Archaeologists found this prehistoric chewing gum at the site some time ago Huseby Klev and read a lot of interesting information from it.
In previous research, scientists managed to obtain the DNA of the people of that time from the found chewing gum. This time the team that was leading Emrah Kirdök from Turkey’s Mersin University, focused on the DNA of other organisms that scientists were able to identify in the chewing gum. It is the DNA of bacteria from the hunters’ oral cavity, as well as the DNA of plants and animals with which the chewers were in contact. Results of interesting research published professional journal Scientific Reports.
Chewing gum full of DNA
It turned out that the said teenagers were indulging in venison, trout and also hazelnuts on the Scandinavian coast, apparently an indispensable part of the diets of people from the Mesolithic period. How mentions portal New Atlas, scientists discovered wolf, fox or mistletoe DNA in the chewing gum. Mesolithic people probably did not eat these things, but they probably used their teeth to process materials from the mentioned animals and plants.
The researchers also discovered sequences of bacteria that are associated with familiar dental diseases. DNA revealed that at least one of the teenagers suffered from periodontitis, a very unpleasant disease from untreated tooth decay. It must have been a purgatory in the Mesolithic.
„This research provided us with a unique snapshot of the life of hunter-gatherers on the Scandinavian coast, relatively shortly after the end of the youngest Ice Age,” says the paleogeneticist Anders Götherström from Stockholm University. “It is a wonderful opportunity to use a different source of information about the lives of the people of that time than is usually available to us.“
2024-01-20 02:04:30
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