Forget coffee and energy drinks. New research suggests prehistoric humans had their own stimulant of choice, and it left some very telling marks on their teeth.
Scientists examining the remains of two pre-agricultural foragers from Sulawesi, Indonesia, found deep, rounded grooves around their teeth. The pattern suggested both individuals had repeatedly held and gently gnawed something hard and round over many years.
That object appears to have been a whole betel nut, the seed of the areca palm. Betel nut is still chewed by an estimated one in 10 people worldwide for its stimulant effects.
The findings suggest prehistoric foragers used betel nut up to 25,000 years ago, far earlier than the previous securely dated evidence of its consumption from around 3,500 to 3,000 years ago.
According to the study published in Science Advances, the older remains dated from around 25,000 to 16,000 years ago. The second individual lived approximately 7,600 to 6,300 years ago.
So what did it do to their teeth?
The grooves matched the repeated holding and gentle gnawing of an object measuring approximately 10 to 20mm across.
Researchers found severe tooth wear and exposed roots. The individuals also showed periodontal disease and tooth loss. In one case, the wear may have reached the dental pulp, potentially causing pain, difficulty eating and chronic infection.
Biomolecular analysis also detected arecoline, the main stimulant compound in betel nuts, in the ancient dental remains.
Researchers then soaked whole nuts in a physiological saline solution. The resulting liquid activated human receptors expressed in frog egg cells, indicating that sucking an intact nut could release biologically active compounds without the preparation associated with modern betel quid.
Could betel nut have eased toothache?
Researchers suggested that the habit may have begun as a form of self-medication.
Arecoline has analgesic properties, raising the possibility that sucking the nuts initially eased existing dental pain. Prolonged use may then have caused further wear, creating a cycle of temporary relief followed by greater dental damage.
Professor Adam Brumm, who led the research, said: ‘So while this habit may have been a remedy for toothache, years of prolonged nut-sucking eventually caused much worse dental health problems, creating a cycle of continued habitual use.’
The conclusion rests on evidence from only two individuals. While the distinctive wear, chemical traces and laboratory results support the betel nut theory, they cannot prove why either person began the habit or whether toothache was the original motivation.
Modern betel quid chewing is also different from the whole-nut sucking proposed in the study. Areca nut is classified as carcinogenic to humans and its use is an established oral cancer risk, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
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