Bulletin of the International Association for Paleodontology recently published discovery of multiple toothpick grooves on 130,000 year old Krapina Neanderthal teeth. David Frayer, professor emeritus of Anthropology at University of Kansas, who published the 2015 PLoS ONE study about a set of eagle talons jewelry is one of the study authors.
The teeth and all the Krapina Neanderthal fossils were discovered between 1899-1905. The team re-examined the teeth with a light microscope to document occlusal wear, toothpick groove formation, dentin scratches, and ante mortem, lingual enamel fractures. They found the premolar and M3 molar were pushed out of their normal positions. Associated with that, they found six toothpick grooves among those two teeth and the two molars further behind them.
While this isn’t as compelling evidence of the 13,000 year old fillings we shared news of in April, this evidence of toothpick use for dental pathology does further fit into a pattern of a Neanderthal being able to modify its personal environment by using tools, in addition to the use of eagle talon jewelry from the same site.
Fascinating finds, thank you for reporting on it! I’ve added it to some class notes on early human evolution. I think one interesting thing is how our depictions of Neandertals seem to be getting “nicer,” especially over the last seven years. My feeling is the admixture evidence now makes people want to see Neandertals in a more akin-to-humans light than may have been the case when the replacement hypothesis was in full swing.