The teeth with wear on the surface are believed to belong to people around 30 – 50 years old, making small holes to make necklaces or bracelets.
Two teeth are punched with small holes to make jewelry. Photo: Fox News.
Scientists found three teeth with puncture marks at the Çatalhöyük archaeological site, Türkiye, between 2013 and 2015. After conducting much analysis, they determined that two of them had been strung on chains or made into pendants, Fox News reported today.
“The ancients punched holes in two teeth with small conical drills, similar to the tools used to chisel a series of animal bones and bead-making stones that we found at Çatalhöyük. In addition, they also had traces of wear and tear.” worn out due to frequent use as part of necklaces or bracelets,” said Scott Haddow, an archaeologist at the University of Copenhagen, lead author of the study.
It is likely that the two teeth were taken from the adults after their death. The wear on the chewing surface shows that they are about 30-50 years old. This is the first time researchers have found evidence of this practice in the prehistoric Near East.
“Because this practice is extremely rare, we think it’s very possible that the teeth are not just jewelry but also have some deep symbolic meaning for the wearer,” Haddow said.
This is one of the remarkable discoveries about Stone Age humans in recent years. Last year, Swedish scientists discovered many 8,000-year-old human skulls stuck on wooden stakes to perform a Stone Age ritual. In 2017, a group of Turkish experts revealed that human skulls may have been used to decorate an ancient temple.
