Evening star., 1940-06-25
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
By Thomas r. Henri.

By Thomas r. Henry.
A strange practice of pulling two or
more healthy front teeth of adolescent
boys-sometimes girls also-started In
the late old Stone Age and spread around
the world, according to evidence OBJ
tained from the study of ancient Ameri-
can and Siberian skulls by DR.. Ales
Hrdlicka, curator of physical anthropol-
ogy of the Smithsonian Institution.
1t presumably was ceremonial rite of
some sort rather than supposed beauty
treatment" and the absence of teeth may
have been a mark of distinction for the
individual, Dr. Hrdlcka believes. The
practice apparently was brought from
Siberia by the first migrants into North
America, the ancestors of the Indians,
and is especially obvious in Jaws from
the Aleutians and Kodiak Island OBJ
tanned by Smithsonian Institution expe-
ditions. Both these were steppirg stones
from Asia to the New World.
The loss of healthy teeth, except for
those obviously lost by disease, such as
ulcers and scurvy, was rare among later
Indians, although there are occasional
instances of it.. The teeth, usually in
cisors but sometimes CANNES, appear to
have been deliberately pulled by tying
sinews around them and yanking them
from their sockets, DR.. Hrdlicka says.
Study convinces him, he explains, that
the teeth were not pulled because they
aehed. First, 1t can be determined, the
jaws are invariably those of yonng men
and women. They are not those of chill
dren because the growth process has
been completed. Generally the only
cause of toothache would have been
dental carries. This was very rare in
deed among young Indians. Moreover,
when the disease appears teeth other
than those most seriously affected show
evidence of it. There are no signs of
carries in the other teeth of the laws
studied by DR.. Hrdlicka. 1t is doubtful
II teeth ever were pulled to relieve pain.
Sometimes teeth actually fell out be-
cause OF ulcers or scurvy. These usually
appeared in later life They left evi-
dence which still could be recognized in
the jaws.
Sometimes. Dr. Hrdlicka SAYS, teeth
were pulled as punishment. This usu-
ally was suffered by older individuals.
1t was a practice among the ancient Pc
ruvians. One of the most terrible punish
ments was to pull all the teeth. The
persons suffering such a fate were es-
sentlally condemned to a slow death.
Sometimes slaves were branded bv re-
moving one or more teeth. AS a rule.
says DR.. Hrdlicka these would be in
dividuals of a different race than their
owners. This would be reflected in their
skulls. Nothing of the sort is found
among the ceremonial tooth pullers.
Among many primitive tribes it is
customary to submit boys on the thresh-
old of manhood to fortitude tests. The
tooth pulling, which must have been
attended by intense pain, may have con-
stituted such test. Loss of front teeth
may have been considered a mark of
beauty. This Is doubted by the an
thropologist. Actually mutilating the
teeth as beauty aid has been quite COM
mon the world over. 1t consists of such
practices as filing them to sharp points
or serrating or filing down the edges.
1t seldom involves actual removal
When all the evidence is considered,
DR.. Hrdlicka says, it seems most prob
able that the practice was part of an
initiation rite
1t Is first shown, he says, by old Stone
Age jaws from Africa and Palestine. By
the beginning of the new Stone Age it
apparently was widespread over Africa,
Australia, continental Asia and Japan
and had reached some parts of Europe.
1t still survives, he believes, in parts of
Africa, Australia, possibly Mongolia and
parts of South America.
1t probably has not been observed be-
fore, DR.. Hrdlicka says, because 1t has
entirely died out among the North Amert-
can Indians and the Eskimo and the
skeletal evidence is scanty and likely to
be overlooked unless one knows what is
being sought. The practice is notable
only when large collections are studied,
In presenting his evidence, DR.. Hrdlicka
lists large number of cases from Ameri-
can and Siberian collections.
There is ample evidence" he says,
"that non-curative removal of some to
all of the front teeth has been a wide
spread procedure since neolithic times in
Northern Asia and since the oldest known
times in America. 1t is also probable that
1t was practiced not in early childhood
but during adolescence; that it extended
to both sexes, although not entirely equ-
ally, since it tended to predominant in
the males. and that there was large lati-
tude and individuality as to the dental
units removed and their number 1t
shows features indicating strongly that
1t was essentially ritual, sacrificial OBJ
servance."
Once the essential facts are recog-
nized, he says, 1t will not be difficult for
trained anthropologists to detect in
stances OF ritualistic tooth removal.
IL