Jade gems decorated these Mayan kids’ teeth

Pre-Hispanic Mayan society loved its tooth accessories. During the Classic and Postclassic Periods (250–1550 CE), adults commonly sported decorative inlays, engravings, and filings. To achieve the desired effects, dental artisans usually relied on a stone tool to purposefully carve a cavity into the tooth, then placed a shaped gem or mineral like obsidian inside before sealing it with an organic cement.

Archaeologists have previously discovered a handful of these dental additions in Mayan teenagers. However, a trio of recently examined, jade-adorned teeth are some of the youngest examples yet, according to researchers at Francisco Marroquín University’s Popol Vuh Museum in Guatemala. Some children as young as eight years old received tooth gems, based on evidence detailed in a study recently published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

Previously, the only known child dental inlay came from Belize, but experts believe the toddler received the accessories after their death as part of their burial. Based on this example, bioarchaeologist and study co-author Andrea Cucina theorized that the latest finds may exemplify a far more specific, geographically focused trend—possibly signifiers of a transition into adulthood.

“This is an interesting question,” he told Phys.org. “Given the fact that so far the archaeological record in Mesoamerica has not reported any preadolescent with inlays (very few young cases start by age 15 years), it makes me think that it might indeed be a regional, localized tradition.”

Cucina’s hypothesis is further supported by the fact that preadolescent Mayan skeletal remains aren’t rare. It’s simply that none of them feature the same dental work and more specimens need to be uncovered to draw larger conclusions. 

There are still certain details the team can still glean from these particular teeth. They likely belonged to more than one child, possibly even three separate individuals. One subject is estimated to have died at nine or 10 years’ old, while the other two teeth belonged to at least one other 8 to 9-year-old.

However, the team theorized that skill discrepancies also indicate that the teeth potentially came from three separate children, noting the range of craftsmanship across the jade inlays. For example, the most precise work is in a left lateral incisor, where the artisan’s cavity only penetrated the tooth’s enamel. Meanwhile, the inlay for a maxillary left central incisor was deeper into the dentin layer, but stopped short of the pulp chamber.

For now, the definitive stories behind these children’s teeth (and the wider societal context) will remain archaeological mysteries. With more time and research, additional archaeological discoveries may eventually fill in our cavities of knowledge.

 

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