The prehistoric men of 15,000 years ago had rotten teeth. Although agriculture as a way of producing food had not been developed and now hunter-gatherers of the cave of Pigeons (Morocco) had caries, abscesses and bad breath.
tooth decay and bad breath will be before the development of agriculture as the main form of food production, which occurred about 11,000 years of problems. The finding was made by an international team of paleontologists who examined the skeletons found in the cave of Pigeons near Taforalt (Morocco).
Most hunter-gatherers who inhabited this cave, during a period between 15,000 and 13,700 years before, suffered from cavities and probably abscesses and bad breath. The bad dental hygiene was complemented by a diet rich in fermentable carbohydrates: signs point to a diet based on acorns, pine nuts and walnuts. These carbohydrates were the teeth and were consumed by bacteria, favoring rotting teeth.
“Most of the occupants of that cave had caries and abscesses and they must often have toothaches and bad breath,” said in a statement, Isabelle de Groote, a professor of anthropology at John Moore University, Liverpool (England). These figures debunk the theory that agriculture was to stimulate the development of caries, according to the researcher.
summary of the study, coordinated by Louise Humphrey (Natural History Museum of London, UK) and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, points to another conclusion that contradicts the current theories: the consumption of berries may have the same effects on the health of the teeth, that the current food with refined sugar.
“This is the first time that this type of behavior documented in Ibero-Mauritanian culture” that flourished in the Maghreb during the Mesolithic period, explained Louise Humphrey, in an email quoted by AFP: “is the first documented evidence of exploitation systematics of wild plant resources in the hunter-gatherers of Africa. “
Ibero-Mauritanian who lived in Taforalt are described as “complex hunter-gatherers” who learned to use stones as tools to prepare food and, according to paleontologists, have had a more sedentary life than previously thought.
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