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59,000 year old dental work:

59,000 year old dental work:

Debates


https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-say-a-59000-year-old-neanderthal-tooth-shows-evidence-of-surgery/

Molar with a hole drilled in it to relieve tooth pain.


@sonhouse said
https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-say-a-59000-year-old-neanderthal-tooth-shows-evidence-of-surgery/

Molar with a hole drilled in it to relieve tooth pain.
Probably not "drilled" right? They just used a sharp rock to poke a hole in the tooth?

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@wildgrass said
Probably not "drilled" right? They just used a sharp rock to poke a hole in the tooth?
Well it was figured out that the Ancient Egyptians cut solid granite rocks and they found out they used a saw blade of iron but the cutting was done by sand, so the dude who did that drilling could have used the same technique, sand and a small twig or bone carved to that size, looks like maybe 3 mm wide.

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@sonhouse said
Well it was figured out that the Ancient Egyptians cut solid granite rocks and they found out they used a saw blade of iron but the cutting was done by sand, so the dude who did that drilling could have used the same technique, sand and a small twig or bone carved to that size, looks like maybe 3 mm wide.
Sure but that was 50,000 years later.

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@wildgrass said
Sure but that was 50,000 years later.
Sure, but even Neandertals were smart. Do you have any other way they could have done such a small hole in a tooth?


@sonhouse said
Sure, but even Neandertals were smart. Do you have any other way they could have done such a small hole in a tooth?
Maybe an injury of some sort? The guy bit down too hard on a sharp rock?

The first medical record of this procedure is in the 1700s. It doesn't make sense to me that the neandertals figured out and then we forgot for 58,800 years. In the meantime, we figured out heliocentrism, universal gravitation, calculated the speed of light, and discovered cells and bacteria.

It seems suspect. Probably a simpler explanation is more likely.

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@sonhouse

As a certain well-known Vulcan would say, "Fascinating!"

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@wildgrass said
Maybe an injury of some sort? The guy bit down too hard on a sharp rock?

The first medical record of this procedure is in the 1700s. It doesn't make sense to me that the neandertals figured out and then we forgot for 58,800 years. In the meantime, we figured out heliocentrism, universal gravitation, calculated the speed of light, and discovered cells and bacteria.

It seems suspect. Probably a simpler explanation is more likely.
I think the sharp rock hypothesis doesn't hold water, because the photo shows the hole as really very round, a sharp rock would leave cracks or pulled bits of tooth, I bet said Neandertal could even have used a fire starter, you know, the stick held vertically and a kind of violin bow thing but string wrapped around the shaft and you move it back and forth to create friction which is know to at least some of the time actually make fire, but since they had brains even bigger than us humans, there had to be genius level folks back then as now.

But the time was tens of thousands of years before the advent of agriculture so they by definition would have been hunter gatherers and therefore on the move a lot, but I bet a genius Neandertal figured out to use sand or maybe just dirt, some kind of abrasive that would drill a really round hole like that.
Or not🙂

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@moonbus said
@sonhouse

As a certain well-known Vulcan would say, "Fascinating!"
Which he said standing close to an active Vulcano which is naturally what he would call it......


@sonhouse said
I think the sharp rock hypothesis doesn't hold water, because the photo shows the hole as really very round, a sharp rock would leave cracks or pulled bits of tooth, I bet said Neandertal could even have used a fire starter, you know, the stick held vertically and a kind of violin bow thing but string wrapped around the shaft and you move it back and forth to create friction ...[text shortened]... or maybe just dirt, some kind of abrasive that would drill a really round hole like that.
Or not🙂
Dental drilling is a less plausible explanation for all the reasons I already mentioned. Copernicus built elaborate telescopes to discover the properties of the universe before Homo sapiens discovered how to do dental drilling, so how would cave dwellers have figured it out?


@wildgrass said
Maybe an injury of some sort? The guy bit down too hard on a sharp rock?

The first medical record of this procedure is in the 1700s. It doesn't make sense to me that the neandertals figured out and then we forgot for 58,800 years. In the meantime, we figured out heliocentrism, universal gravitation, calculated the speed of light, and discovered cells and bacteria.

It seems suspect. Probably a simpler explanation is more likely.
It was the first recorded record of the candy referred to as the "jawbreaker" I think it was cherry.


@sonhouse said
https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-say-a-59000-year-old-neanderthal-tooth-shows-evidence-of-surgery/

Molar with a hole drilled in it to relieve tooth pain.
Liberal writers testing the water to see just how far they can lead you pitiful idiots.


@Mott-The-Hoople said
Liberal writers testing the water to see just how far they can lead you pitiful idiots.
Well, since you OBVIOUSLY have a Phd in archeology we breathlessly await your well reasoned response.

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@sonhouse said
Well, since you OBVIOUSLY have a Phd in archeology we breathlessly await your well reasoned response.
His phd is in: "Living in Mommy's Basement."