Ice Age Children In Europe Had Cheek Piercings
For a long time, researchers have puzzled over the flat patches on the teeth of ancient Europeans. After investigating the teeth of Ice Age Europeans more closely, an archaeologist has determined that these ancient people once wore cheek piercings.
John Willman, a biological anthropologist at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, examined dozens of skeletons from the Pavlovian culture, a group of early humans that inhabited Central Europe between 25,000 and 29,000 years ago. In his study, he focused on the canine teeth and cheek teeth.
He believes that children as young as six years of age may have donned cheek piercings, also known as labrets.
The word “labret” comes from the Latin word for “lip” and refers to a type of piercing in a person’s lower lip or cheek area.
The flat wear patterns were even found on some baby teeth, indicating that Pavlovian people got their first labret sometime during childhood.
Adults had more extensive enamel loss on their cheek teeth than children, suggesting that their piercings grew with them. Some adults showed signs of labrets worn on both cheeks.
As they got older, Pavlovian individuals might have worn larger labrets to signify the start of new life stages, like puberty or marriage.
There was also evidence of teeth shifting in the individuals’ mouths, which may have resulted from wearing cheek piercings constantly.
“Piercings can cause a tooth to move—almost like ‘reverse’ braces,” said Willman. “Some individuals have dental crowding, which I interpreted as an effect of having labrets resting against the teeth for long periods of time.”
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So far, no artifacts resembling labrets have been discovered among Pavlovian remains, but this makes sense because not many items they used in daily life were preserved.
The labrets could have been made from materials that easily disintegrate over time, like leather or wood. Or, it is possible the labrets were reused by others rather than buried with the original wearer.
“It’s my hope that future analyses of the material culture from Pavlovian archaeological sites find some artifacts that resemble labrets documented in other parts of the world,” said Willman.
It is not the first time that Willman has uncovered evidence of piercings. During his research, he found that a young adult male who lived in modern-day Tanzania between 12,000 and 20,000 years ago likely had three facial piercings: one in each of his cheeks and one in his lower lip.
Overall, the study offers a glimpse into a practice that had disappeared long ago. In the future, archaeologists might need to start reexamining artifacts from Pavlovian and other ice age sites to see if any evidence of labrets was missed before.
The study was published in the Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology.
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