We learned about the prehistoric attempts at dentistry, and that even Neanderthals had fillings.

A team of Italian researchers found what appears to be a 6,500-year-old human jawbone with a tooth showing traces of a filling made of beeswax.  According to the report, the beeswax filling was applied either shortly before or after the individual’s death, though the exact time cannot be confirmed.  If it was applied before death, researchers speculate that the filling was likely used to reduce the pain and sensitivity from a vertical crack in the enamel and dentin layers of the tooth.

Evidence of pre-historic dentistry is scarce and according to the researchers, this filling is the earliest known example of therapeutic-palliative dentistry found to date.