News in Brief Anthropology

Paint specks in tooth tartar illuminate a medieval woman’s artistry

It wasn’t just monks who scribed and illustrated elaborate religious texts

jaw of medieval woman

TOOTH PAINT  An expensive blue pigment found in these tartar-encrusted teeth from a medieval woman are helping to rewrite the story of who created richly illuminated religious books.

Christina Warinner

By Bruce Bower

- More than 2 years ago

Remnants of a rare pigment found in dental tartar of a woman buried around 1,000 years ago at a medieval monastery indicate that she may have been an elite scribe or book painter.