Neanderthals Had The Intelligence And Skills To Figure Out How To Deal With Cavities With A Stone Drill

In 2016, a 59,000-year-old lower second molar tooth from a Neanderthal was found in Chagyrskaya Cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia, Russia. The tooth had a large, curved hole in the middle, but it was unclear what had caused the hole at the time of its discovery. Now, evidence has shown that a small stone drill was used to treat a cavity.

Neanderthals Had The Intelligence And Skills To Figure Out How To Deal With Cavities With A Stone Drill. In 2016, a 59,000-year-old lower second molar tooth from a Neanderthal was found in Chagyrskaya Cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia, Russia. The tooth had a large, curved hole in the middle, but it was unclear what had caused the hole at the time of its discovery. Now, evidence has shown that a small stone drill was used to treat a cavity. It is the earliest documented case of intentional dental treatment to date. The procedure demonstrates that Neanderthals had the intelligence and the fine motor skills to figure out how to remove the source of tooth pain. “The fact that this invasive treatment took place and the person survived leads me to believe that this is another example of the really very sophisticated Neanderthal understand...