Centuries ago, young Mayan children, seven years old, had “teeth jewels.” Jade inlays are likely to represent social maturation and rituals of passage, new research finds.
Archaeologists already knew that pre-Hispanic Mayan adults often inhale the tooth inhale. However, the author wrote in his study that it was analyzed in a new study, “It’s the young age of individuals that intrigue it,”
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However, in a new study in the November 2025 issue of Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Jade Inlays, located at the Popol vuh Museum in Guatemala, examined three isolated teeth. Based on the degree of root layer of each tooth, the researchers determined that each tooth came from a child between the ages of 7 and 10.
Tooth fashion
One of the decorated teeth was the upper left incisors, one of the upper anterior teeth, and the other was the upper right dog. The third tooth was the lower incisor. It is unknown if they all came from one child.
“Unfortunately, these teeth are not associated with bone-skeletal remains,” the author wrote in his study.
According to the study, Maya often shaped teeth by intentionally submitting or chopting them. Artisans also used stone tools to carve artificial holes on the surfaces of prominent teeth, place gems (usually obsidian and pyrite as well as jade) and secured with organic adhesive.
There is some evidence that adolescents between the ages of 10 and 15 had teeth submitted or carved teeth, but these individuals did not have dental inlays, the study says. They also write that there is a “very limited number” of Mayans between the ages of 15 and 20 who had dental inlays in archaeological records.
Maya may not have placed dental inle in younger people as it could impair dental growth. One idea is that “inlays may have been too invasive to be implemented on such a young individual.” The team writes in research. However, in a new study, the x-rays of three teeth showed that the innermost layer known as the pulp is undamaged, and the teeth do not have natural cavities or cavities.
The mystery remains
The authors suggest that the inlays were placed while the children were alive.
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This is an important discovery. This is because the two teeth with jade inlays discovered in Belize may be from a 3-year-old child. But the discovery is “controversial.” This is because inlays may have been created after death as part of the burial ceremony, the authors of the new study wrote.
They also warned that new findings may reflect local or regional traditions that are not spreading throughout the Mayan world, or that dental inlays are a sign that children are beginning to take adult responsibility, such as housework and labor.
It will be difficult to tell why these young people had them until more dental inlays were found in the teeth of Mayan children.
“Unless more cases are documented, the possible interpretations of the reasons behind making these permanent revisions in such young individuals remain at the level of assumption and cannot generalize to the entire Mayan realm,” the author wrote in his study.
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