US Edition4,000-Year-Old Teeth Reveal the Earliest Use of This Psychoactive Substance | News Channel 3-12
THAILAND, JUL 31 – Analysis of dental plaque from a 4,000-year-old burial reveals repeated betel nut chewing, highlighting its long-standing cultural significance in Southeast Asia, researchers said.
- Researchers first identified ancient betel nut use by analyzing dental calculus from a 4,000-year-old burial at Nong Ratchawat, Thailand, in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.
- Circumstantial indicators included that the betel nut chewing practice dates back at least 8,000 years, based on plant fragments or stained teeth at archaeological sites.
- Advanced residue study shows that dental calculus analysis can reveal behaviors that leave no traditional archaeological traces, as Dr. Shannon Tushingham explained, with betel nut compounds suggesting repeated consumption in Burial 11.
- Future studies could apply residue analysis to more individuals at Nong Ratchawat and other sites, as Dr. Piyawit Moonkham plans to analyze 150 more for signs of betel nut use.
- Today, over 600 million global betel chewers, nearly 10%, are linked to oral cancer research and public health studies.
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Euphoria, relaxation and increased energy. These are the effects of the world's fourth most widely used psychoactive substance, found in betel nuts. Now a 4,000-year-old tooth shows that people began chewing betel nuts as early as the Bronze Age, reports CNN.
·Stockholm, Sweden
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