buckthesystem Posted August 22, 2007 Group: Royal Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 1,706 Topics Per Day: 0.26 Content Count: 3,386 Content Per Day: 0.51 Reputation: 3 Days Won: 0 Joined: 03/12/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 12/10/1955 Share Posted August 22, 2007 http://www.stuff.co.nz/4172947a4560.html A 5000-year-old piece of chewing gum - one of the oldest ever to be discovered - has been found by a British archaeology student, The Guardian has reported. The discovery of the Neolithic gum, made from birch bark tar, was made by Sarah Pickin, 23, during a dig in Finland. The gum had tooth prints in it. Trevor Brown, her tutor at the University of Derby, said: "Birch bark tar contains phenols, which are antiseptic compounds. It is generally believed that Neolithic people found that by chewing this stuff if they had gum infections it helped to treat the condition." The practice of chewing gum has a history of 9000 years. The first modern gum, made from latex, was sold in 1848 and a version could be bought from a vending machine in New York in 1888. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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