BlO—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 8,1983
Look Mom! Early Pakistanis I
had Great Cavity Reports I
WASHINGTON - “It ’s as ducted of a handful of specimens in I
though these individuals were 1981 also had indicated a sur- I
using fluoridated toothpaste.” prisingly low caries rate. But I .
John R. Lukacs, an associate Lukacs, following the lead of other I
professor of antlu-opology at the scientists who had studied the I
University of Oregon, was ex- teeth of prehistoric skeletons, I j
plaining why about 45 people thought there were other reasons I
whose teeth he had studied in for this. I \ •
January and February of this year Evidence found by archeologists I * f 7
had an abnormally low rate of since 1973 suggested that the I
cavities. Mehrgarh site was occupied at a I
But the low rate of caries - the crucial time in South Asian I
scientific term for cavities - was prehistory: when New Stone Age I
not the result of a high-powered man began to change from a I *
television advertising campaign, society dependent on hunting and I T - 9
These 45 inhabitants of the gathering to one sustained by I * • *
Pakistani village of Mehrgarh cultivation of plants, mainly cereal I
lived there as long as 8,000 years grains, and animal domestication. I
ago. “Scientists have found that in I
A Prehistoric First stages where agriculture was first I
Instead, their low caries rate is developing, there’s quite a bit of I
due to a heavy dose of natural poor health because of increases in I
fluoride in the river that ran past population size and the changes in I
their village. The discovery by food sources,” Lukacs says. “I was I
Lukacs of what is known as dental interested in testing this I
fluorosis, a consistently high level hypothesis in Mehrgarh. I
of fluoride intake, marks the first “Now, after this last field season I
documented case ever found in where we found the fluorosis, it I
prehistoric skeletons. became obvious that my initial I
Lukacs had no idea that he would thesis could not be applied to the I
find dental fluorosis in the teeth of Mehrgarh skeletons.” I
the skeletons, uncovered at River Water Did It E
Mehrgarh by members of the The reason, Lukacs explains, is V
French Archeological Mission in that the inhabitants of Mehrgarh, F ** ,u ™ s * r,lc *
Pakistan. from 6000 B.C. to the present, have
A preliminary study he con- (Turn to Page B 12)
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