Forms of chewing gum were also chewed in Ancient Greece. The Mayans and Aztecs were the first to exploit the positive properties of gum they used chicle, a natural tree gum, as a base for making a gum-like substance and to stick objects together in everyday use. It is chemically similar to petroleum tar and is in this way different from most other early gum. The tar from which the gums were made is believed to have antiseptic properties and other medicinal benefits. 5,000-year-old chewing gum made from birch bark tar, with tooth imprints, has been found in Kierikki in Finland. Ĭhewing gum in many forms has existed since the Neolithic period. Early chewers did not necessarily desire to derive nutritional benefits from their chewable substances, but at times sought taste stimuli and teeth cleaning or breath-freshening capabilities.
Each of the early precursors to chewing gum were derived from natural growths local to the region and were chewed purely out of the instinctual desire to masticate. The cultural tradition of chewing gum seems to have developed through a convergent evolution process, as traces of this habit have arisen separately in many of the early civilizations. This way of extracting by making zigzag incisions is known since ancient Mayan civilization who call it sicté. Traditional extraction of chicle from chicozapote tree ( Achras zapota) in Quintana Roo, Mexico.
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