Gleaming black teeth have been considered a high standard of beauty in parts of Vietnam since at least the late 1800s. But now, archaeologists have traced this practice back 2,000 years, discovering that ancient people used their abundant iron resources to dye their pearly whites black.
In a study published Jan. 22 in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, researchers investigated skeletons from Dong Xa, an archaeological site in the Red River delta of northern Vietnam. The settlement at Dong Xa was occupied during the Iron Age (550 B.C. to A.D. 50), and the cemetery held numerous skeletons with unique dental colors. To figure out how people discolored their teeth thousands of years ago, the researchers nondestructively analyzed the skeletons' enamel using a variety of techniques.
