Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1914-10-29
DENTISTRY A VERY
ANCIENT SCIENCE
1t Was Understood in South
America Hundreds of Years
Before the Era of Columbus
Or. SAVILLE'S GREAT DISCOVERIES

He Found That Aborlslnes In Lower
Part of This Hemisphere Decorated
Their Teet With lnIays Of Gold
and Other Filings.
WASHINGTON.-That the art of
filling teeth with foreign substances
was known to various aboriginal
tribes of the Americans hundreds of
years before the Columbian era
perhaps even thousand years ago.
Is fact that has been known to
archaeologists for some time.
Among the leading anthropologists
of this country is Dr. Marshall H.
Saville, Loubart Professor of Amer
lean Archaeology in Columbia uni
versity. In his scientific investiga
tions in the west coast provinces of
Ecuador and Colombia he has made
many valuable discoveries. His first
visit to that region was made in
the summer of 1905. In communi-
cation to the international Congress
of Americanisls held at Vienna,
among other interesting details was
the following account dealing with
the subject of decoration of 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
decoration of the teeth by the in
sertion of inlays in small perfora-
tions cut in the enamel of the upper
incisors. This custom to decorat-
ing the teeth was quite common in
various parts of Mexico, where differ
ent 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, l have found hematiste
used; in Vera Cruz, turquoise has
been found; and in other parts
teeth with settings of rock crystal,
obsidian, and red cement have
been found. We have never heard
of this custom in Colombia 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"
Prof. Saville says the finding of
teeth inlaid with gold, turquoise, and
other substances, in the skulls and
among the skeletal remains of the
aborigines who lived in various
parts of the American continents
prior to the Spanish discoveries has
been a matter of peculiar interest.
Whether this insertion of foreign
substances in the enamel of the
teeth was always far merely deco
rative purposes, or whether at times
1t may have been to serve a useful
end, has been a mooted question.
The general consensus of opinion
among anthropologists is that orna-
mentation 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:
In the spring of 1913, a Cholo.
one of the natives of Atacames. a
about 1S miles southwest of the
city of Esmeraldas, found a skele-
ton in burial tube on the right
bank of the Atacames, just above
the town. The skull was found with
the teeth inlaid with gold. but the
finder contented himself with break
ing off the superior maxillary. throw
ing the rest of the skull away. When
visited the town In June of the
present year for the purpose of
making some excavations to sup
plement my former work, obtained
the fragment. The two upper mid
die teeth are decorated by the in
sertion of thin gold disks in cavities
drilled or bored In the enamel of
the face of the teeth. An unusual
dental feat, in addition to the decora-
ton, is found IN the right middle
tooth. This is not a right middle
incisor, but a right lateral incisor,
which does not belong to the jaw
but was implanted to replace the
middle incisor. This is such an ex-
traordirary feature that we must
weigh very carefully the evidence
as to its having been found in the
jaw. Indeed there is no reason to
doubt that the replacement is a gen.
uine triumph of the ancient dentists
of Atacames"
Another skull showed teeth that
had been "face-crowned" with gold.
the enamel having been skufully
removed down to the dentine and
the teeth being in perfect state
OF preservation.