Norwich bulletin., 1914-07-04
Tuesday at Mrs. P. K. CrsndarS vhd | lfver near Waafar1v
ANCIENT DENTISTRY
N ECUADOR

That the art Of nufng teen with foreign substances. was known to vat rfous aboriginal tribes of ths Amer@s icas hundreds of years before the Coz lumbian era, perhaps even . thousand years ago, is a fact chat has been known to archaeoiogtsts for somA time Among the leading anthropoIo- g1sts Of this country is Dr. Marshall H. Savt1e Loubat professor of Amer 1can- Archaeology in Columbia univer- sity. 1E his scientific tnvestt9ationa in the west coast provinces of Ecua- dor and Colombia he hes made many valuable dfScoveries. His first visit to this region was made in the summer or 1sOS> In communication to the International Congress of American- fsts held at Vienna in 1908, among other interesting details was the fol- lowing account dealing with the sub 5ect of decoration of the teeth:
 Another custom which we found in Esmeraldas, and which so far as we part of South America, is the deoora-- tion of the teeth by the insertion of tnlays tn small perforadons cut in the enamel of the upper iDcisors. This custom of decorating the teeth was quite common in various parts of Mexico. where different settings were used In the Mayan area, as far south as Salvador. the object most often used for the inlay was 5adsite. In Mex4oo. for example in Oaxaoa, I have found hemattte nsed: in Vera Cruz, turqzoass has been found; and in other parts teeth with settings of rock crystaL obsidtan. and a red cement have been found We have never heard Of rakzs custom in Colombia or Peru. but tn Esmera1das. in Atacamea, skuIIs have been found with tiny disks of sold set Into the teeth in the same manner as tn Mexico and Central America, Yfth the exception of the uaterial"
 In the June number of The Bu1ksktn of the Pan American Union, Washins-- ton. D. C. appears a review of Pro- fessor Savflles latest publication, Pre- Colunbian Decoration of the Teefn in Ecuador" in which the reviewer statas that the finding of teeth fnlaid with gold, turquoise, and other substances in the skulls and among the skeleeaI remains of aboxi9inees who lived fn various parts Of the American con- tinents prior to the Spanish discoveries has been matter of peculiar interest Whether thts insertion of foreign sub,- stances in the enamel of One testh Wna always for merely decorative purpoees or whether at times it may have been to serve a useful end has been . mooted question The general con- census of opinion among anthropoaoe>- tsts is that oruamertat3on was the snaa object@
 ol- from another archaeological trip to South America with numerous valuable specimens. among them being one of unusual interest, described by tns pro- lessor as followE:
 Tn the spring of fs1s, a Cholo. enc of the natives of Atacames, a town in the province of Esmeraldas, about la miles southwest of the city of Es- meraldas, found a skeleton tn a burial tube on the right bank of the Rio Atacames, just above the town The skull was found with the teeth tnlaid with gold. but the finder coueented himself with breaking or the superior maxillary, throwing the rest Of tho skull away. When visited the town in June of the present year for the to supplement my former work, ob- tained the fragment The two upper middle teeth are decorated by the in--1 sertion of thin gold disks in cavfffez drilled or bored in the enAmea of ths face of the teeth. As unusual tientaI feat in addition to the decorak3on. is found in the right middle tooth. This k not q light middle fncisor, but right lateral incisor which does not belong to the jaw but was implanted to replace the middle incisor. This Is such an extraordinary feature that we as to it's having been found fn the jaw Indeed there is no reason to doubt that the replacement Is gsn- uins triumph of the ancten+ deuk1s2s Of Atacames."
 Another skull showed tech thzt14d been -faoe-crowned" with gold, the enamel having been skilffulfy removed down to the denttns and the teeth be- ing in e pcrfect state of perserva<icn. So much for the rndtan denttsts of thousand years ago.
 seft Answer.