News Anthropology

Mexican find reveals ancient dental work

By Bruce Bower

- More than 2 years ago

Researchers excavating an ancient burial site in west-central Mexico have unearthed a man’s skeleton containing the earliest American example of intentionally modified teeth.

NO BITE. Several top-front teeth (far left) from a more than 4,300-year-old skeleton found in Mexico were filed down, possibly to insert a ceremonial mouthpiece. Gabany-Guerrero

The discovery, announced June 14 by Tricia Gabany-Guerrero of the University of Connecticut in Storrs and her colleagues, dates to between 4,570 and 4,332 years ago.