The First Dentist Walked The Earth 60,000 Years Ago
know a thing or two about: to have real, practical knowledge or experience about something
In a cold cave in Siberia, scientists found a single tooth from a Neanderthal who lived 60,000 years ago. At first, it looked normal. But then they saw a small hole on the side that was too clean to be natural. It looked drilled.
To test their theory, the team drilled into modern teeth using replicas of the stone tools found in the same cave. The new holes looked almost the same. Add in the old decay right next to the original hole, and the conclusion was hard to avoid. Some 60,000 years ago, a Neanderthal had cleaned out a cavity using a tiny stone drill.
This is the oldest dental treatment ever found. And it worked. The hole had smooth edges, which means the tooth healed. The patient kept eating with that tooth for at least another year.
The molar sat deep in the back of the mouth and would have been very hard to reach. There was no anesthetic. Cavities were also rare in Neanderthals because of their diet, so finding the problem was not simple either. We do not know if the patient worked on his own tooth, or if another Neanderthal did the work.
For decades, popular culture has shown Neanderthals as our slow, simple cousins. But they made art, buried their dead, and clearly knew a thing or two about medicine.
Sample sentences
After thirty years in the kitchen, my grandmother knows a thing or two about bread.
“You should ask Maria. She knows a thing or two about fixing old cars.”
He grew up by the sea, so he knows a thing or two about reading the weather.
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Exceptional Drilled Tooth Reveals Neanderthals Practiced Dentistry in Siberia 60,000 Years Ago
