The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-06-27
MAKES
MANY VALUABLE
DISCOVERIES
Explorations in Ecuador Show
That Aboriginal Tribes Were
Good Dentists.

WASHINGTON, D. c., June FL
That the art Of filling teeth with for
eign substances was known to var
ious aboriginal tribes Of the Americas
hundreds Of years before the Column
bian era, perhaps even a thousand
years ago, Is q fact that has been
known to archaeologists for some
time. Among the leading anthropolo-
gists Of this country is DIR. Marshall
H. Saville, Loubat professor OF Amer
lean archaeology in Columbia Univer-
sity. In his scientific Investigations
in the west coast provinces of Ecuador
and Columbia he has made many val
liable discoveries His first visit to
this region was made in the summer
Of 1906. In communication to the
International Congress of American
lists held at Vienna in 1908, among
other interesting details was the fol-
lowing account dealing with the sub
ject of decoration of the teeth:
Decorated Teeth.
Another custom which we found in
Esmeraldas, and which, so far as we
are aware, is not present in any other
part of South America, is the decora-
ton Of the teeth by the insertion OF
inlays in small perforations cut in
the enamel of the upper incisors. 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 jadeite. In
Mexico, for example in Oaxaca, have
found hematite used; in Vera Cruz,
turquoise has been found; and in
other parts teeth with settings OF rock
crystal, obsidian, and a red cement
have been found. We have never
heard of this custom in Columbia 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 Mexico and Central
America, with the exception of the
material"
In the June number of the bulletin
Of the Pan American Union, Washing
ton, D. c., appears a review Of Pro-
fessor Saville's latest publication,
"Pre-Columbian Decoration of the
Teeth in Ecuador" in which the re-
viewer states that the finding of teeth
inlaid with gold, turquoise, and other
substances, in the skulls and among
the skeletal remains of aborigines who
lived in various parts of the American
continents prior to the Spanish dis
coveries has been matter of peculiar
interest Whether this insertion Of
foreign substances in the enamel of
the teeth was always for merely de-
corative purposes or whether at times
1t may have been to serve a useful
end has been mooted question. The
general consensus of opinion among
anthropologists is that ornamentation
was the sole object"
Last summer Prof Saville returned
from another archaeological trip to
South America with numerous valu-
able specimens, among them being one
of unusual interest, described by the
professor as follows:
Skeleton Has Gold Teeth.
"In the spring of 1913, Cholo, one
Of the natives of Atacames, a town in
the province OF Esmeraldas, about
eighteen miles southwest of the city
Of Esmeraldas, found skeleton in a
burial tube on the right bank OF the
Rio Atacames, just above the town.
The skull was found with the teeth
inlaid with gold, but the finder con-
tented himself with breaking off the
superior maxillary, throwing the rest
of the skull away. When / visited the
town in June of the present year for
the purpose of making some excava-
tions to supplement my former work,
l obtained the fragment The two
upper middle teeth are decorated by
the insertion Of thin gold disks in
cavities drilled or bored in the enam-
ell of the face of the teeth An I'M
usual dental feat, in addition to the
decoration, is found in the right mid
die tooth. This is not a right middle
incisor, 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 must weigh very care
fully the evidence as to its having
been found in the jaw Indeed there
is no reason to doubt that the replace
ment is genuine triumph Of the
ancient dentists OF Atacames."
Another skull showed teeth that had
been "face-crowned' with gold, the
enamel having been skillfully removed
down to the dentine and the teeth be-
ing in a perfect state of preservation.