Rounded grooves in teeth from two Sulawesi caves match repeated sucking and gnawing of whole areca nuts. The older jaw is dated to between 16,000 and 25,000 years ago; chemical traces and a laboratory test support the interpretation. SBS News independently corroborates the psychoactive-nut and pain-relief account. The authors call it the earliest archaeological evidence of habitual psychoactive-plant use.
A jaw fragment from Maros-Pangkep on Sulawesi, dated to between 16,000 and 25,000 years ago, carries rounded grooves in three teeth. Another cave yielded teeth about 6,000 to 8,000 years old with the same pattern. New Scientist reports that the wear matches a hard, spherical object repeatedly moving inside the mouth. SBS News independently corroborates that scientists connect ancient teeth with use of a psychoactive nut.[1], [2]
The researchers propose that people sucked and gnawed whole areca nuts, unlike the modern practice of slicing them and chewing them with slaked lime. They soaked whole nuts in artificial saliva and found that the liquid released enough arecoline to affect engineered cells carrying human brain receptors. Traces of arecoline on the ancient teeth supplied a second line of evidence linking the grooves to the psychoactive plant.[1]
Arecoline has stimulant and pain-relieving effects. The team suggests that people may initially have sucked the nuts to ease tooth pain, even though prolonged use could worsen dental damage. SBS News also reports pain relief as a possibility, not a demonstrated motive. The authors describe the teeth as the earliest archaeological evidence of habitual psychoactive-plant use, but the grooves and chemical traces cannot reveal each person's intention or establish addiction directly.[1], [2]
