Ancient cooking method helped preserve animal teeth for jewelry

Stone Age people were already slow cooking – but not just for the food. They used heat and time to loosen animal teeth from skulls, removing them cleanly to turn into jewelry and ornaments.

New research shows they didn’t just scavenge what they could find. They had a method, and it helped preserve the parts they needed.

The study comes from scientists at the University of York and the University of Helsinki, who examined more than 2,000 animal teeth excavated from graves at Zvejnieki cemetery in Latvia.

This burial ground, used between 7500 and 2500 BC, is one of the largest known from the Mesolithic period.

Pulling teeth, the ancient way

Archaeologists have long known that people in the Mesolithic Stone Age wore animal teeth on their bodies or clothing. What hadn’t been studied closely was how they got the teeth out in the first place.

“Much of the research focus has been on how and why the animal teeth were used as ornaments, but relatively little is known about how they were extracted,” said Dr. Andrew Needham from the University of York.

“Recent theories have suggested they may have been cut from the skull or possibly scavenged from carcasses.”

To find out what really happened, the team turned to experimental archaeology. They tested different methods of removing teeth from animal skulls to see which techniques left the teeth intact.

“By testing different methods, it became clear that methods like cutting, hammering or pulling the teeth out of a fresh jaw is extremely difficult and often damages the teeth in the process,” Needham said.

“But what we see in these thousands of animal teeth at grave sites is that they are usually complete and undamaged by any extraction method.”

Stone Age methods tested

To simulate Stone Age techniques, the researchers ran year-long studies and tested techniques that involved heat and moisture.

Results from year-long experiments at the Īdeņa Experimental Centre in eastern Latvia showed that pit steaming and wet cooking were the most effective methods, allowing teeth to be extracted easily and without damage.

“This also meant that the meat could be eaten and the bones remained suitable for tool-making,” Needham said.

Pit steaming was basically a prehistoric version of slow cooking. The process used hot stones, coals, water, and a covering of skins and plants to slowly cook animal heads and jaws. Left overnight, the teeth could be removed easily the next day.

“Our experiments show that tooth extraction was a deliberate, time-sensitive process embedded in daily life, especially cooking practices,” said Dr. Aija Macāne from the University of Helsinki.

“This challenges the assumption that teeth used for ornaments were simply scavenged or easily available.”

Animal teeth as adornment

Most of the teeth came from elk, wild boar, and red deer. Others were from dogs, and in a few cases, humans.

These were turned into pendants worn by people of all ages and genders. Teeth were usually placed around the head, torso, and arms of the buried individuals.

Over time, preferences changed. Early graves favored large herbivores. Later burials included more carnivores like dogs. This shift could reflect changing relationships with animals or evolving cultural meanings behind the ornaments.

Nothing went to waste

This method of careful tooth extraction suggests a deeper respect for the animals these people hunted. It wasn’t just about using the meat. They made sure every part of the animal served a purpose.

“This practice shows that Stone Age people were aware that there was a ‘right way’ to treat the animal remains in order to get everything they needed – from food to tools and ornaments,” said Dr. Aimée Little, Director of the York Experimental Archaeological Research (YEAR) Centre.

“Making personal ornaments from teeth was likely to have been a social activity linked to everyday cooking activities,” she added.

“It is easy to imagine that different members of Stone Age societies, including small children, were involved in their making, with the first stage of extracting teeth from mandibles happening as meals were being prepared. Such insights help break down the idea that prehistoric craft was highly specialized.”

This research offers a new look at what daily life might have been like thousands of years ago. It wasn’t just about survival. It was about community, creativity, and making use of everything the natural world provided.

The full study was published in the journal Archaeological andhttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12520-025-02260-0 Anthropological Sciences.

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