Student Finds 5000-Year-Old Chewing Gum

itsthebin writes "Sarah Pickin, 23, found the lump of birch bark tar — complete with neolithic tooth prints — on a dig in Finland. Ms Pickin's tutor at the University of Derby, Professor Trevor Brown, said birch bark tar contained phenols, which are antiseptic compounds. 'It is generally believed that neolithic people found that by chewing this stuff if they had gum infections it helped to treat the condition. It's particularly significant because well-defined tooth imprints were found on the gum which Sarah discovered,' he said. Ms Pickin was on a volunteer program at the Kierikki Centre on the west coast of Finland when she made the find."

Deja vu

[MyLongNickName (822545)]

I tried the same thing when my teacher found me sticking some on the bottom of my desk. She didn't believe me.

I just gotta ask....

[Nick Driver (238034)]

Was it found stuck under the top of a 5000 yr old desk?

Re:

[ArcherB (796902)]

Was it found stuck under the top of a 5000 yr old desk?

I think it was found on the bottom of a 5000 yr old shoe.

Where it was found

[Hoi Polloi (522990)]

It was found in a brand new Topps baseball card pack. Topps said "Most of the gum we package with our cards is about 5000-6000 years old."

Re:

[owlnation (858981)]

It was found in a brand new Topps baseball card pack.

In the pack, along with the gum were the rookie cards of Roger Clemens, Juan Franco, Tom Glavine, Orlando Hernandez and Jamie Moyer.

Singapore

[Rude Turnip (49495)]

This kind of makes me wonder if anyone 5,000 years from now will ever know that Singapore existed...

Photo Caption

[Gadgetfreak (97865)]

Seems like that photo caption isn't the best place to make that kind of typo!

Re:

[Jim Hall (2985)]

Here is the photo caption from the article, for those looking for it:

stone age "chewing cum"

(about 2/3 down the page)

Interesting fact...

[iamdrscience (541136)]

Fact: 4 out of 5 neolithic dentists surveyed would recommend birch bark tar to their patients who chew tar.

Re:Interesting fact...

[ma++i+ude (580592)]

You may be more correct than you think. Birch sap contains xylitol [wikipedia.org], the sugar that's actually good for your teeth. It's still used in chewing gum, especially (and almost exclusively) in Finland where it was first discovered but increasingly in other countries as well. Find it in a supermarket near you.

Re:Interesting fact...

[evanbd (210358)]

Just to be pedantic...

Xylitol is actually a sugar alcohol, not a "true" sugar. Sorbitol is similar. Both are good for you because the bacteria in your teeth try to digest it, but can't actually get any nutrition from it -- so the energy spent trying is wasted.

Re:

[ma++i+ude (580592)]

I wouldn't know if all birches produce xylitol but I guess it's possible if they are related. In Finland sap is collected from both of the common varieties, the silver birch (Betula pendula) and the downy birch (Betula pubescens), of which the latter gives more sap. There is a third native birch variety, the dwarf birch (Betula nana), but it's tiny so it wouldn't be much good for collecting sap.

Re:Interesting fact...

[ma++i+ude (580592)]

In case anyone's interested, there seems to be a nice sap-collecting-howto, with pictures, here [cybis.se].

Re:

[budgenator (254554)]

No it isn't, you would be amazed at the number of periodontally diseased people who have had major heart attacks, strokes, various autoimmune diseases and type 2 diabetes. Cronic infection and inflammation is serious.

everyone wants to know:

[circletimessquare (444983)]

did it lose its flavor yet?

Tree Gum

[Stanistani (808333)]

As a youngster, I used to chew pine gum while walking through the woods to relieve thirst. I wasn't aware of any tooth problems.

Am I still reading Slashdot?

[katarn (110199)]

What? An article about a female who has an interest in the sciences, and no one has commented on that yet? Is this still Slashdot?

--
Won't someone please think of the trolls?

Package was found nearby

[fishthegeek (943099)]

The article doesn't mention the package that was found nearby. It was a wooden box carved with

Grunt Growl Roar
Snort Grumble Grunt!

5000 BC, not 5000 years old

[Annymouse Cowherd (1037080)]

It's 7000 years old.

Re:

[MyLongNickName (822545)]

In before mention of ABC Gum.

Actually, this would have been Aleph Beth Gimmel Gum.

And now someone please correct my spelling of the Hebrew alphabet.

Re:Just wondering?

[djdavetrouble (442175)]

What was it's flavour?

ummmm. Birch?

Re:

[FlatLine84 (1084689)]

I would assume it has a similar flavor to modern day birch bark tar, which is similar to birch beer or root beer... Kind of a wintergreen flavor, but not as minty, if that makes any sense at all.... Loggers commonly used to chew on the stuff, and in my case I tried some whilst in the woods.

Re:Needs to be said

[Pojut (1027544)]

"You know, when I see those two twins on that Doublemint commercial? I'm almost embarrassed to say this but uh... I ain't thinkin' about gum..." -Bill Hicks

Re:Needs to be said

[Pojut (1027544)]

In the eternal words of Dani Filth (well...I don't know if he coined the phrase but it's on a Cradle of Filth shirt...) "Dead girls don't say no"

Re:figured...

[BECoole (558920)]

Dental Carries didn't become common until man started farming cereal grains. As you guessed, cavities became even more common with the introduction of cheap sugar. You may enjoy this article about primitive diets. http://www.westonaprice.org/traditional_diets/nast y_brutish_short.html [westonaprice.org]