The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-06-27
ANCIENT DENTISTRY
 AS DoNE IN ECUADOR


 That the art of filling teeth with for eign substances was known to various aboriginal tribes of the Americas hun dreds of years before the Columbian era. perhaps even thousand years ago. is a fact, that has been known to archaeologists for some time. Among the leading anthropologists of this country is pr. Marshall Fl. Saville, Loubat professor of American archeO- logy in Columbia university. In his scientific investigations in the west coast provinces of Ecuador and Colom- bia he has made many valuable dis coveries. His first visit to this re- zion was made in the summer of 1906 Tn a communication to the In ternationa1 Congress Of Alnericanists held at Vienna in 1908, among other in terest1ng details was the following ac- count dealing with the subject of dec oration of the teeth:
 s'Another custom which we found in EsmeraIdas, and which, so far as we are aware, is not present in any other part of South America, is the decora- tion of the teeth by the insertion of inIays in small perforations cut in the enamel of the upper incisors. This cus- tom of decorating the teeth was quite commonI in various parts of Mexico, where different settings were used In the Mayan area, as far south as Salva- dor, the object most often used for the inlay was jadeite.'
 N'Tn Mexico. for example in Ca aca. I have found henatfte used; in Vera Cruz, turquoise has been found; and in other parts teeth with settings of rock crystal, .obsidian, and a red ce- ment have been found We have never heard of this. custom in CoIom- bia or Peru, but in Esmeraldas, in Atacames, skulls have been found with tiny disks of gold set into the teeth in the same manner as in Mexi- co and Central America, with the ex- ception of the material
 In the June number of the Bulletin of the Pan American GnfoA Washing ton, D. G., appears a, review of Prof. SaviIle's latest publication, "Pre-Co- Iumbian Decoration of the Teeth in in which the reviewer states that the finding of teeth inIaid with gold, turquoise, and other substances. in the skulls and among the sweletaI remains of aborigines who lived in various parts of the American contfn- ents prior to the Spanish discoveries has been a matter of peculiar interest.
 Whether this insertion of foreign in the enamel Of the teeth was always for merely decorative pur- poses or whether at times it may have been to serve a useful end has been 3 mooted question The general con sensus of opinion among aanthropoIo- yists is that ornamentation was the sole 0bject.p
 Last summer Prof SaviIIe returned from another archaeological trip to South America, with numerous valua- ole specimens, among them being. one of unusual interest, described by the professor as follows:
 s.In the spring of 1s1s.a a cholo, one of the natives of -Atacan1es, 8 town in the province of Esmeraldas. about 1s niles southwest of the city of Esmer- aIdas, found a skeleton in a burial tube on the right bank of the Rio Atacames, lust above the town. The skull was 'ound with theht teeth inIaId with gold put the finder contented himself with off the superior maxillary, throwing the rest of the skull away,
 When visited the town in June of he present year for the purpose of making some excavations to supple nent my former work, obtained the fragment. The two upper middle teeth are decorated by the insertion of thin gold disks in cavities drilled or bored n the enamel of the face of the teeth. l An unusual dental feat, in addition to he decoration, Is found in the right ! middle tooth. This is not right mid l1e incisor, but a right lateral incisor which does not belong to the jaw but was implanted to replace the middle ncisor. This is such an extraordin- try feature that we must weigh very carefully the evidence as to it's having ,een found in the jaw. Indeed l here is no reason to doubt that the replacement is a genuine triumph of he ancient dentists of Atacames."
 Another skull showed teeth that had ,een tsface-crowned'' with gold; the 'namel having been slxillfully removed Town to the dentine and the teeth be- ng in e perfect state of preservation. 1 10 much for the Indian dentists of a housand years ago,
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