5,000-Year-Old Chewing Gum Found (Used)
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Aug. 20, 2007 — A Stone Age piece of chewing gum, one of the oldest ever to be discovered, has been found by a Scottish archaeology student in Finland.
Still bearing tooth impressions, the 5,000-year-old glob was made from birch bark tar and looked "just like a dirty piece of modern chewing gum," student Sarah Pickin, 23, told the daily Scotsman.
"I was also worried it could have been a bit of fossilized poo," Pickin added.
Pickin made the discovery while on a six-week volunteer program at the Kierikki Center, an archaeological and exhibition site on the west coast of Finland.
Containing carbolic acid, an antiseptic compound, the unflavored birch bark would have proved useful in treating mouth infections.
"By chewing this stuff, Neolithic people suffering from gum and throat infections might have found some relief," Trevor Brown, Pickin's tutor at the University of Derby, told Discovery News.
Also used as a glue for affixing arrowheads to shafts, the prehistoric chewing gum was made by simply heating birch bark. -
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how they know 5000 yrs? -
Because of Nokia, connecting people.Originally posted by smartboy4: how they know 5000 yrs? -
there's plenty along the void decks, left overs by pple who spit them and they become black spots on the floor.
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bo peekture?
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Originally posted by omgukilledkenny:
look like dried plum or shit?? -
Look like $hit,small brain.
5000 years.Wah lyk this one person found it can sell at e-bay
can strike rich $$$. -
wow treats mouth infection? chew that most likely you get mouth infection.Originally posted by omgukilledkenny: -
hu will buy that piece of shit wor......
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Its dried shit!
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where are the tooth marks ?
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Yummy!
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tt's a funny response..Originally posted by angel7030:Because of Nokia, connecting people. -
yeah, at last, someone back to the future.
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I think it's mine, I was transported here, 5000 years into the future, and thats my freakin chewin gum.
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Carbon DatingOriginally posted by smartboy4: how they know 5000 yrs?
