Neanderthals were highly creative and resourceful. Living throughout Europe and Asia between 400,000 and 40,000 years ago, they made art, intentionally started fires, took care of their sick and injured peers, created a sticky, multipurpose resin and extracted high-calorie grease from animal bones, to name just a few accomplishments.
Now, new research suggests they may also have dabbled in dentistry. Scientists have discovered a 59,000-year-old Neanderthal molar that appears to have been deliberately drilled to treat a cavity, they report in a new paper published in the journal PLOS One.
The discovery pushes back the earliest evidence of dental work by roughly 45,000 years and adds to the growing body of research that Neanderthals were intelligent, capable hominins.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 