Researchers have found a skeleton dating from around 2,500 BC at a burial site in western Mexico's Michoacán state, whose teeth show the oldest known example of cosmetic dental work in the Americas, predating previously discovered filed teeth and jeweled inlays by at least 1,000 years.

The body was buried in volcanic ash beneath a cliff painted with rock art that includes calendar symbols, linking the little-studied area to Mexico's more famous cultures including the Aztecs and Maya. The burial also contained obsidian flakes from Cerro Varal in eastern Michoacán, suggesting people were mining and trading it very early in the history of this region.

The local Purepecha Indian group that led the research team to the remote spot call the skeleton "The Bald Man." The man was between 28 and 32 years old and stood about 5 feet 1 inch tall. Bone evidence has indicated he didn't do hard work, suggesting perhaps he was an important person in society. The cause of death isn’t clear but there had been active infections in two teeth at the time he died as a result of the cosmetic dentistry, so blood poisoning is a possibility.

The man's upper and front teeth had been cut off or filed down right to the gum, possibly so they could be mounted with a ceremonial denture made from the palate of a wolf or a jaguar. The dentures themselves were not found, but such dental modifications using beasts of prey became more common centuries later in the Maya culture.

Although cavities were drilled out of teeth as long as 9,000 years ago, this is the oldest known example of dental modification discovered in the Americas.

Info compiled from news reports:
L A Times
The Seattle Times Company/Reuters