A Scottish archaeology student in Finland has found that the habit of chewing sticky lumps of gum dates back thousands of years.
"
A Scottish archaeology student in Finland has found that the habit of chewing sticky lumps of gum dates back thousands of years. Sarah Pickin, 23, found a piece of Stone Age birch-bark tar in a dig near Oulu, some 380 miles north of the capital, Helsinki.
Pickin was on a six-week volunteer program at the Kierikki Center, an archaeological and exhibition site on the west coast of Finland. The 5,000-year-old glob is believed to have been used for chewing and to fix broken arrowheads or clay dishes, archaeologists said Monday.
According to AP reports, chewing gum habit became popular in Finland in the 1980s when scientists discovered that it contained xylitol, a natural sweetener found in plant tissue including birch trees, prevents tooth decay
Scientists also anticipate that the birch-bark gum contained carbolic acid, an antiseptic compound, which too helps fight tooth decay and other mouth infections. "
Note: Some links to articles might only be valid for a short period of time depending on the publisher and others might require registration. Please let us know of any errors you find. Thanks!
William Self Associates, Inc. WSA, Inc. since 1988 has conducted large infrastructure projects (pipelines, transportation, mining, land development) throughout the U.S. WSA currently has 4 regional offices conducting historic, prehistoric, maritime and architectural research, assessm
Arizona -
04-28-09
Logan Simpson Design Inc. LSD is an environmental planning and landscape architecture firm that offers a full range of cultural resources services throughout the Intermountain West. In addition to historic and prehistoric archaeologists, our staff includes professional historic p
Arizona -
11-06-08
Daly & Associates Qualified Architectural Historian with Master of Science degree in Historic Preservation.
California -
04-22-05
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Cultural resource industry events and announcements
ARCHAEOLOGISTS WANTED FOR HISTORY CHANNEL TV SERIES! This expert and the students will be a part of a small team that will travel to several digs in Egypt with the infamous Dr. Zahi Hawass. (If the expert and/or the students have experience in Egyptology even better, but this is not a requirement.)
06-30-09
Statewide Historic Preservation Contractors to Conduct Activity II, III and IV Studies (Kansas) The Kansas Department of Transportation [KDOT] is required by federal and state regulations to identify and document historic/architectural (cultural) and archeological resources which may meet the criteria of significance for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, and which may be affected by proposed state and local highway systems improvement projects.
06-05-09
HCN to Tweet From Historic Preservation Projects Heritage Conservation Network, a non profit that offers volunteer vacations at heritage sites, will be tweeting from its projects this summer. You can follow them at www.twitter.com/handsonhistory.
05-12-09