title: Palaeontology: early Neolithic tradition of dentistry.
abstract: Prehistoric evidence for the drilling of human teeth in vivo has so far been limited to isolated cases from less than six millennia ago. Here we describe eleven drilled molar crowns from nine adults discovered in a Neolithic graveyard in Pakistan that dates from 7,500-9,000 years ago. These findings provide evidence for a long tradition of a type of proto-dentistry in an early farming culture.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento BAU, Università La Sapienza, 00185 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coppa
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bondioli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cucina
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Frayer
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jarrige
authors.forename: J-F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Jarrige
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Quivron
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vidale
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Macchiarelli
mesh_terms: D003469:Culture; D003743:Dental Enamel; D005260:Female; D005580:Fossils; D006665:History of Dentistry; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010154:Pakistan / Q000208:ethnology; D014070:Tooth