Archaeologists discover substance that could’ve been substitute for ancient chewing gum

In a recent discovery and analysis of a 5700 year old fossil of a young girl in Denmark, archaeologists have discovered that the bark of a birch tree might have possibly been used as a substitute for what is chewing gum today. The bark was heated to soften the substance and then chewed on for many reasons such as to help with digestion, curb appetite etc. Further inspection of the discovered gum has also shown properties of the girl that might have chewed on it such as that she was European, quite young in age, etc.

"Syltholm is completely unique. Almost everything is sealed in mud, which means that the preservation of organic remains is absolutely phenomenal.It is the biggest Stone Age site in Denmark, and the archaeological finds suggest that the people who occupied the site were heavily exploiting wild resources well into the Neolithic, which is the period when farming and domesticated animals were first introduced into southern Scandinavia," said Theis Jensen, study author and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen's Globe Institute, who excavated at the site.

This is the first time that human genomes have been extracted from anything that is not bone. The fossil that has been discovered has been name “Lola” by the archaeologists.