All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

dental

Dentistry in the Middle Ages. Source: Archivist / Adobe Stock.

Dental Hygiene in the Middle Ages (Video)

Medieval dental hygiene debunked the misconception of poor oral health . Contrary to popular belief, our ancestors prioritized tooth care and believed that diseases could be spread through bad breath...
While today we flush our urine away without giving it a second thought, in ancient times it was considered a valuable commodity. Urine contains a wide array of important minerals and chemicals such as phosphorus and potassium. The Romans believed that urine – both human and animal - would make their teeth whiter and keep them from decaying, so they used it as a mouthwash and mixed it with pummis to make toothpaste. In fact, urine was so effective that it was used in toothpastes and mouthwashes up until the

Ancient Romans Brushed Their Teeth with Urine

While today we flush our urine away without giving it a second thought, in ancient times it was considered a valuable commodity. Urine contains a wide array of important minerals and chemicals such...
Girl of Gran Dolina, Individual H3

The 800,000-Year-Old Gran Dolina Boy Just Became A Girl

History is peppered with stories of women who disguised themselves as men to fight in wars, to steal crowns and to topple empires. However, in this story we have an 800,000-year-old little boy who...
Ancient Dentistry - golden teeth

Jewel-Capped Teeth and Golden Bridges: 14,000 Years of Dentistry

Dentistry, in some form or another, has been practiced for at least 14,000 years, although tooth extraction and remedies for toothaches probably go back much further. The study of ancient remains...
An Edo period painting showing a woman with teeth stained black by the practice of Ohaguro.

The Allure of Blackened Teeth: A Traditional Japanese Sign of Beauty

Ohaguro (which may be translated as ‘blackened teeth’) is a practice in which people (usually women) dye their teeth black. While this custom is known to be practiced in different parts of the world...
An Aurignacian tooth found in the Manot Cave, Israel. (Tel Aviv University) Cro-Magnon artists painting in Font-de-Gaume by Charles Robert Knight. (Public Domain)

Aurignacian Secrets Revealed in Cutting-Edge Dental Research

Who exactly were the Aurignacians who lived in the Levant 40,000 years ago? They first appeared in Europe some 43,000 years ago, bringing a cultural golden period of the Paleolithic with them. Their...
Study finds an archaic hominin had modern dental growth.(Inset: Two digitally reconstructed teeth)

104,000-Year-Old Tooth of Mysterious Hominin Child Raises Questions About Human Evolution

By Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg / Science Advances A relative of modern humans that lived at least 104,000 years ago in northern China showed evidence of dental growth and development very similar to...
Horses congregate near a deer stone site in Bayankhongor, in central Mongolia's Khangai mountains.

Oldest Evidence of Horse Veterinary Care Discovered in Mongolia

Through careful study of thousands of skeletal horse remains found in ritual burial sites in Mongolia, a team of researchers has detected evidence of veterinary dental procedures being administered...
Medieval style bathing depicted in calligraphy of a book circa 1400.

Medieval Hygiene Might Have Been Better Than You Think

The Medieval period is usually perceived as a time in Europe during which the greater part of the continent was in decline. In many aspects of Medieval society, the quality of life was inferior as...
 Model of a Neanderthal

130,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Teeth Reveal Evidence of Prehistoric Dentistry

Neanderthals treating toothaches? A discovery of multiple toothpick grooves on teeth and signs of other manipulations by a Neanderthal of 130,000 years ago are evidence of a kind of prehistoric...
An artist's impression of Neanderthal life.

Teeth vs. tools: Neanderthals and Homo sapiens had different dietary strategies

Over hundreds of thousands of years, the Neanderthal lineage developed successfully in western Eurasia and survived severe fluctuations between colder and warmer climactic cycles of the Ice Age. The...
Eight Impressive but Terrifying Cases of Ancient Surgery

Eight Impressive but Terrifying Cases of Ancient Surgery

It is hard to fathom the way in which invasive surgery was carried out prior to the development of modern anaesthesia, but ancient people around the world have been cutting and drilling into the...
Dental implant in Iron Age burial chamber

Archaeologists discover 2,300-year-old dental implant in Iron Age burial chamber

A new study published in the journal Antiquity has revealed the discovery of an Iron Age tooth implant among the remains of a Celtic woman in northern France. The implant is the oldest of its kind...
Morocco Cave

Stone Age foragers had passion for sweet acorns, causing tooth decay

A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found that ancient hunter-gatherers had a passion for carbohydrate-rich snacks, such as sweet acorns, which...