"Gum" like this can offer fascinating insights about the person who chewed it — even the color of their hair and eyes.
Treasures of the WorldThe birch tar used by a Stone Age teenager as “chewing gum.”
More than 10,000 years ago, a teenage girl in present-day Estonia put a piece of birch tar in her mouth, chewed it, and spit it out. Now, researchers in Estonia are using the unassuming prehistoric artifact to learn more about her — and other Stone Age people.
The finding, recently revealed in the “Hidden Estonia: Land of Fire and Ice” episode of Bettany Hughes’ Treasures of the World documentary series, offers fascinating insights about the Stone Age people who lived in Europe thousands of years ago.
The Stone Age ‘Chewing Gum’ Found In Estonia
Insights about the chewing gum, analyzed by researchers at the Institute of History and Archaeology at the University of Tartu, were revealed for the first time in a recent episode of Bettany Hughes’ Treasures of the World documentary series. The researchers found that the gum — a small piece of birch tar — was chewed by a teenage girl roughly 10,500 years ago.
By extracting DNA from traces of saliva in the birch tar, researchers were incredibly able to determine that the Stone Age girl who’d chewed the gum likely had brown eyes and brown hair.
“Having access to the team’s research was a really magical moment,” Hughes stated. “This shows how one throwaway item can bring us face to face with the people of the past. We now know people chewed tar — burnt or heated silver-birch bark — for things like relieving toothaches and as glue. It’s still used as an adhesive today, sealing breaks in tools and pots.”
Hughes added, “We even know [the gum chewer] had brown eyes and hair, which I love because it challenges the assumption that northern Europeans had fair hair and blue eyes. It’s such a relatable but profoundly remarkable thing.”
Treasures of the WorldDocuseries host Bettany Hughes with the 10,500-year-old Stone Age birch tar “chewing gum.”
The episode, “Hidden Estonia: Land of Fire and Ice,” also discussed other exciting archaeological finds in the country, including a metal cross with a “vulva” and a “penis” that makes “a brilliant noise” when the two pieces knock against each other, as well as the 12th-century remains of a woman buried with a fertilized egg.
But the chewing gum is an especially interesting discovery. And it’s not the first time that such an object has offered insights about prehistoric people.
How Prehistoric People Used ‘Gum’
While an exciting discovery, the chewing gum in Estonia is not the first such artifact to be analyzed by researchers. “Gum” from other places has offered fascinating insights about prehistoric people as well.
In 2019, researchers in Denmark analyzed a piece of 5,700-year-old chewing gum (birch bark) and uncovered a fascinating story about the person who’d chewed it. They found that the chewer was a female with dark skin, dark hair, and blue eyes, and that she likely subsisted on a diet that included hazelnuts and duck. They also found evidence of gum disease, as well as Streptococcus pneumoniae, a bacterium that causes pneumonia.
Tom BjörklundA depiction of the woman or girl who chewed the 5,700-year-old gum found in Denmark.
A few years later, in 2024, researchers put forward a study about 10,000-year-old gobs of “gum” (also pieces of resin made of birch bark) that had been found in Sweden. Chewed by Stone Age teenagers, the gum revealed insights about their diet — deer, trout, and hazelnuts — and that one of the chewers had a painful gum infection.
Discoveries like these offer a unique and fascinating look at people who lived thousands — or even tens of thousands — of years ago. And for Hughes, the gum found in Estonia is especially significant as a window into life in prehistoric Europe.
“Estonia feels like a mystical place,” Hughes remarked. “A cherished land full of intriguing wonders. Facing the Baltic Sea, it boasts over 2,000 islands. Half the country is covered in forest. Beneath the surface of these stunning Nordic landscapes are fascinating secret histories. And new science is uncovering untold stories.”
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