World's oldest chewing gum found

Metro UK ^ | Sunday, August 19, 2007 | staff reporter

[Daffynition]

Spitting out chewing gum on the street is a widely despised habit that can land you with a fine.

But our tendency to discard the half-masticated blob appears to date back at least 5,000 years, it was revealed.

The ancient equivalent of a Wrigley's Spearmint has been prised from the ground by a British archaeology student digging in Finland.

The lump of birch bark tar dates back to Neolithic times and comes complete with Stone Age tooth prints.

Sarah Pickin, 23, was among five British students volunteering at the Kierikki Stone Age Centre in Finland when she found the tiny, ancient blob.

'I was delighted to find the gum and was very excited to learn more about the history,' she said.

Neolithic people are thought to have chewed the bark tar to heal mouth infections – and also used it to glue broken pots together.

The tree tar contains phenols which have antiseptic properties, explained Prof Trevor Brown, who is Miss Pickin's tutor at the University of Derby.

The gum is to go on display at the centre in Finland.

[Daffynition]

[Daffynition]

Title should read: World's oldest chewing gum found

Sorry. Thanks

[dighton]

After five millennia, I’ll bet it’s lost its flavor on the bedpost.

[SunkenCiv]

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[Free Vulcan]

So many jokes, so little time.

[Salamander]

I’d mercifully forgotten that song.

Thanks for making me remember it since it I can’t stop singing it in my head, now............:-P

[aruanan]

Stuck underneath the world’s oldest bed?

[MinuteGal]

Double your pleasure
Double your fun
With Doubletar, Doubletar
Birchbark gum

Leni

[Daffynition]

I want to know how they knew it was gum?

Personally I know gum can be a very creative art media, put in the right hands mouth.

[null and void]

Darn you! I was going to say that!

[Monkey Face]

It wasn’t mine!

[SunkenCiv]

Chew sure about that? ;’)

[SunkenCiv]

I figured (before I read the article) that it had been found stuck to the bottom of some PreColumbian desk or nightstand. ;’)

[Daffynition]

All I know is chewing on gum balls will denture teeth for sure. ;-P

[SunkenCiv]

And then, plate time is over. Or just beginning...

[Monkey Face]

My neice used to put her used gum behind her ear. Of course, she was only three at the time....;o]

[Mumbles]

So Sarah, how did it taste? C’mon, you know you tried it.

[Cvengr]

[Cvengr]

[SunkenCiv]

Before or after she chewed it? ;’)