It would appear that modern man does not have a monopoly on bad taste:

The glittering “grills” of some hip-hop stars aren’t exactly unprecedented. Sophisticated dentistry allowed Native Americans to add bling to their teeth as far back as 2,500 years ago, a new study says.

Ancient peoples of southern North America went to “dentists”—among the earliest known—to beautify their chompers with notches, grooves, and semiprecious gems, according to a recent analysis of thousands of teeth examined from collections in Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (such as the skull above, found in Chiapas, Mexico).

Make sure to click on the link to the article to get a glimpse of an ancient skull with gem stones embedded in its teeth.  I wonder if the next discovery will be the remains of ox-carts with giant wheels and spinners.