A Scottish archaeology student in Finland has found that the habit of chewing sticky lumps of gum dates back thousands of years.
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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. "
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