Unusual Dental Wear in Ancient Human Remains: A New Explanation

Numerous human remains discovered in central Europe dating to the last Ice Age have unusual abrasions on their teeth that have stumped experts for decades. Now, a researcher in Portugal has put forth an interesting explanation: cheek piercings.

A New Hypothesis

John C. Willman of the Laboratory of Prehistory (CIAS) at the University of Coimbra has suggested that Pavlovian people—a hunter-gatherer culture that existed in central Europe between approximately 25,000 and 29,000 years ago—sported labrets—a kind of cheek piercing. In a study published January 23 in the Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, the biological anthropologist argues that labrets could have caused the unusual dental wear previously noted in many Pavlovian remains with well-preserved teeth.

The Study’s Findings

While working on his Ph.D. thesis, Willman was fascinated by the strange wear on the surfaces of the canines and cheek teeth of individuals from Pavlovian sites. In addition to normal wear on the chewing surface of teeth, they have flat wear planes on their ‘buccal’ (cheek) surfaces. “The enamel wear on cheek surfaces struck me as very similar to the wear caused by labrets and other facial piercings that are found in some bioarchaeological, ethnographic, and clinical cases,” Willman explained in a blog post. Buccal or cheek surfaces are the sides of teeth that face the inside of the cheek.

Previous Theories and New Insights

Previous studies have theorized various explanations, including that Pavlovian people may have kept small pebbles in their mouths to trigger salivation and relieve thirst. Though Willman wasn’t the first to propose the cheek piercing hypothesis, he conducted new analyses of original tooth remains and photos of remains that he could not observe firsthand.

He concluded that “labrets, rather than any other kind of behavior, were a likely cause [of] the flat buccal surfaces in the Pavlovian individuals I studied.” He also noted that, in addition to surface wear, the piercing could have affected tooth arrangement over time—“basically the opposite of what happens if you wear braces or retainer to straighten your own teeth.”

A Shared Practice?

Because researchers have identified the dental abrasions in the well-preserved teeth of most Pavlovian adults and adolescents, and even in children as young as six to ten years old, Willman suggests that it could be the result of a shared practice related to advancing age, akin to a rite of passage.

“Children/adolescents probably received a labret on one side of the face early in life and adults generally exhibited evidence for labrets on both sides of the face,” he explained.

Limitations and Future Research

One limit to the cheek piercing theory, however, is the fact that labrets have thus far not been identified at any Pavlovian burial. Nonetheless, Willman argues that labrets made of wood or leather may have disintegrated in time, or that perhaps Pavlovian people did not bury their dead with the piercings.

“Whether or not the labret hypothesis finds support through future research and discoveries, the buccal facets represent a physical manifestation of widespread Pavlovian behavior(s) marking lived experience,” he pointed out in the study.

A New Perspective on Ancient Human Behavior

If you thought cheek piercings were a modern trend—think again!