One young Neanderthal in Spain appeared to treat a dental abscess with medicinal plants, highlighting an ability toseek pain relief long before pills came into existence, according to the study. For starters, the Neanderthals from Spain had completely different diets from their counterparts found in Belgium. A study of their dental plaque revealed they dined on mushrooms, moss and pine nuts -- with no meat. But where did the idea of studying dental plaque come from? "We figured out that we could obtain bacterial DNA from dental plaque that was calcified on ancient skeletons.

Source: CNN March 09, 2017 11:00 UTC