Neanderthals may have drilled out a cavity 59,000 years ago

NPR Science LISTEN & FOLLOW NPR App Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music iHeart Radio YouTube Music RSS link Science Neanderthals may have drilled out a cavity 59,000 years ago May 13, 20262:30 PM ET Ari Daniel Several views of the molar tooth archeologists discovered in Chagyrskaya Cave. Zubova et al./PLOS One hide caption toggle caption Zubova et al./PLOS One Over the years, excavations at Chagyrskaya Cave in southwestern Siberia have unearthed an assortment of Paleolithic treasures, including heaps of tools fashioned from stone and bone, alongside fossils from the easternmost population of Neanderthals. And now, in a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One, scientists describe the latest discovery from the site — a Neanderthal molar with a depression that they believe is evidence of an ancient invasive dental procedure. "Basically a root canal," says John Olsen, an archaeologist at the University of Arizona and a co-author of the report. Sponsor Message Short Wave Thanks, Neanderthals: How our ancient relatives could help find new antibiotics "This [hole] was created by a stone tool handled by a Neanderthal between the thumb and the forefinger," he says. The tool was used "to rotate that on the chewing surface of the tooth to expose the pulp and clean it out." "We think this is an open and shut case," he adds. Rachel Kalisher, a bioarchaeologist at UC San Diego who wasn't involved in the research, says it's a clever finding. "They did a lot of great work and they have beautiful data presented," she says. And she agrees the hole was likely produced by a stone tool, but she can't be sure that it was done intentionally. "It's certainly believable," she says. "But I'm not sure that the evidence that they provide is necessarily the smoking gun." Chagyrskaya Cave in southwestern Siberia Ksenia Kolobova hide caption toggle caption Ksenia Kolobova A small tooth with a big message For a rainy month and a half in the summer of 2016, the research team scraped away...