5 THINGS WE CAN LEARN FROM VERY OLD TEETH

1 THEY LASTED A LONG TIME

Teeth are more likely than any other tissue to survive centuries of corrosion and decay. University of Adelaide paleomicrobiologist Laura Weyrich and Keith Dobney, a professor of human paleoecology at the University of Liverpool, were able to draw some remarkable conclusions about the lives of four Neanderthals — two from Belgium and two from Spain — who lived between 42,000 and 50,000 years ago, by peering beneath their dental enamel. The study was published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

2 THEY MAY HAVE USED ASPIRIN

The plaque of a Spanish individual who was suffering from both a tooth abscess and an intestinal parasite when he died contained the DNA of a tree that produces the painkiller salicylic acid (the active ingredient in Aspirin) and bits of the fungus Penicillium (which produces penicillin).

3 THEY ATE MORE THAN MEAT

The Nature results suggest the Belgian individuals contained traces of woolly rhinoceros, sheep and edible mushrooms. In contrast, the Spanish Neanderthals didn’t seem to be eating any meat. Their teeth instead bore traces of mushrooms, pine nuts and forest moss.

4 THERE WAS HANKY-PANKY

The scientists were able to sequence the entire genome of a bacterium trapped in the ancient plaque and found that it’s a species that still dwells inside human mouths today — a suggestion that humans and Neanderthals shared microbes. “In order to get microorganisms swapped between people you have to be kissing,” Weyrich noted.

5 THEY COULD EXPLAIN CHANGE

“Doctors still don’t really know why microbiomes change today,” Weyrich said. “We can really use ancient DNA to study humans as a model system.”