The last Ice Age holds many mysteries, including the unusual tooth wear found on human remains from central Europe. For decades, experts have puzzled over these abrasions. A new study proposes a fascinating explanation: cheek piercings.
This intriguing theory centers around the Pavlovian people, a hunter-gatherer culture that thrived in central Europe between 25,000 and 29,000 years ago. Biological anthropologist John C. Willman of the University of Coimbra’s Laboratory of Prehistory (CIAS) suggests they may have worn labrets, a type of cheek piercing. His research, published in the Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, argues that these labrets could explain the unique dental wear observed on numerous well-preserved Pavlovian teeth.
Willman, intrigued by these unusual wear patterns, noticed flat planes on the buccal (cheek) surfaces of teeth, in addition to the expected wear from chewing. “The enamel wear on cheek surfaces struck me as very similar to the wear caused by labrets and other facial piercings found in some bioarchaeological, ethnographic, and clinical cases,” he explains. This observation led him to investigate the cheek piercing hypothesis further.
While previous research explored other explanations, such as the possibility of Pavlovian people holding small stones in their mouths to stimulate saliva production, Willman’s study focused on analyzing original tooth remains and photographs of remains he couldn’t examine firsthand. His findings support the labret theory, suggesting that labrets were the most likely cause of the flat buccal surfaces he observed. He also notes that, besides surface wear, piercings could have gradually altered tooth alignment – “basically the opposite of what happens with braces or retainers.”
The prevalence of these dental abrasions across Pavlovian remains, including adults, adolescents, and even children as young as six, suggests a common practice potentially linked to age progression, perhaps a rite of passage. Willman postulates that children might have received a single labret early in life, while adults often showed evidence of piercings on both sides of the face.
A key challenge to this theory is the absence of physical labrets in Pavlovian burials. Willman acknowledges this, suggesting that labrets made of organic materials like wood or leather could have decomposed over time, or that the Pavlovian people might not have buried their dead with these adornments.
Regardless of whether future research validates the labret hypothesis, the buccal facets on Pavlovian teeth offer a tangible glimpse into their widespread cultural practices and lived experiences. So, while cheek piercings may seem like a modern trend, their history might stretch back much further than we thought.
