Oldskool

Breaking: Grills are not an original concept.

This Maya skull, found in Chiapas, Mexico, is an example of this early practice of inserting semi-precious stones into one’s mouth. These decorations apparently were common to all classes, and were thought to be inserted with the aid of of an obsidian drill. Hopefully, they used some sort of pain reliever– I’m cringing at the thought as I write this. Also having a good deal of trouble picturing the result. It’s disconcerting enough when you see a person with a grill or with a diamond on their tooth– a whole mouthful of jade and other stones would be even more distracting. I’d be too worried about one popping out and being accidentally swallowed to have a coherent conversation with the person. At least their dentists were presumably skilled. Yikes.
[via National Geographic]

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