Fascinating. (I say that a lot here, right? But everything IS fascinating.) The archaeological study is informing our knowledge of what women did in Egypt that wasn’t portrayed in the tomb reliefs. Marvellous.

Keepsakes taken from the dead bodies of loved ones? War tokens? Macabre kind of thing to have around one’s neck.

Very interesting. The archaeology and the literature from this period tell quite different stories, and of course, we have put our own 20th/21st century spin on things. I’d love to know how the Hyksos came to power in the Second Intermediate Period definitively. Maybe this is it?

They didn’t have dentists. They didn’t have tooth brushes. They definitely didn’t floss. But scientists think that hunter-gatherers had better oral health than we do. A recent study on ancient calcified dental plaque reports that as hunting and gathering evolved into farming, the dietary shift caused another shift to take hold: in oral bacteria.

Streptococcus mutans is the bacteria that causes tooth decay, and it thrives on carbohydrates from processed flour and sugar. When the human diet changed from what you could pick or catch to what you could grow and process, this bacteria got everything it needed not only to grow, but to become dominant. Everything you eat affects the bacterial habitat of your mouth (and the rest of your body). And, when your diet allows harmful bacteria to thrive, your oral and whole-body health will suffer.

Overgrowth of bad bacteria in the mouth causes an immune system response that scientists believe might contribute to diabetes, obesity and heart disease. If that’s not enough to convince modern-day man to cut out the sugar, this might: an imbalance of bad bacteria also causes bad breath!

A number of researchers are working on solutions to rebalance oral bacteria, or specifically target and eliminate streptococcus mutans. But until these miracle lozenges and mouthwashes hit the market, the best we can do is eat a little more like our distant ancestors.

Another study on ancient teeth found one more reason for hunter-gatherers to smile: a grass- like plant called purple nutsedge. While purple nutsedge “tastes a lot like dirt” according to one scientist, it contains antibacterial chemicals that limit the growth of Streptococcus mutans. Prehistoric Sudanese, ancient Egyptians and Aborigines were all using the starchy stuff. What was then a dietary staple is now deemed a weed.