A Skeleton With A Blue Tooth Was Found And It Rewrites Women's History

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A Skeleton With A Blue Tooth Was Found And It Rewrites Women's History

Everything has blue tooth nowadays. Our cars talk to our phones which can talk to our TVs. People walk around talking to themselves, something that used to get people thrown into an asylum, but turns out they have an ear piece.

So yet another thing with blue tooth shouldn't make news, except it is. It's even being called a "bombshell" discovery.

The difference is that unlike the electronic counterparts, a skeleton from the middle ages with a blue tooth has big implications for history as we know it.

A skeleton believed to be that of one belonging to a woman who lived during the middle ages (about 1000 - 1200) was the centerpiece of a study conducted by Ohio State University. They found the skeleton has large amounts of lapis lazuli found in her teeth.

"It's kind of a bombshell for my field," said Alison Beach, a medieval history professor at Ohio State University.

If you're not a history nerd you probably require an explanation. Lapis lazuli was used to create rich blue pigments and at the time was as valuable as gold. Only the most well-respected artists of the time ever worked with lapis lazuli.

This means that the skeleton is proof that women could achieve high ranks, at the very least within the art community. The middle ages have very few records, but what we do know is that it was a very patriarchal society. Women did not have equal rights and it was long thought they were relegated to the homestead. This skeleton proves otherwise.

The question of how the teeth became so stained remains, here's the working theory. It is known that licking the tip of a paintbrush was the manner to achieve fine detail back them. The artist must have licked a substantial amount of brushes coated in lapis lazuli during her time.

The woman appears to have died when she was 45-60 and was buried in a German monastery.

[H/T: Mashable]

"Because things are much better documented for men, it's encouraged people to imagine a male world," Beach.

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