Siberian royal tomb may hold sign of cannabis use 2,800 years ago
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Archaeologists report finding over 1,000 cannabis seeds in a royal tomb in southern Siberia, which may push back the potential timeline for psychoactive cannabis use by about 300 years. Some independent experts question whether the evidence shows drug use.
Archaeologists excavating a royal burial mound in southern Siberia say they have found evidence that cannabis may have been used for its psychoactive effects nearly 2,800 years ago. The findings, published in the journal Science, would push back the potential timeline for such use by around 300 years.
The site is Tunnug 1, in the Uyuk Valley, sometimes called Siberia's Valley of the Kings. The mound is about 140 metres across and is linked to the Scythians, nomadic peoples of Central Asia and parts of southern Russia and Ukraine. Researchers found more than 1,000 cannabis seeds alongside human remains, plus preserved human hair that they tested to see whether the plant had been consumed.
Dr Gino Caspari of the University of Bern, who led the dig, said the seeds appear to have been placed deliberately, which suggests a ritual purpose rather than casual recreational use. He said the team cannot establish whether the cannabis was smoked or ingested. He also raised the idea that it might have been used to sedate people before possible human sacrifices, but called this speculation that cannot be proven.
The find is consistent with the Greek historian Herodotus, who wrote in the fifth century BC that Scythians inhaled smoke from hemp seeds thrown on hot stones.
Not all experts agree. Volker Auwaerter, a forensic toxicologist at the University Medical Center in Freiburg, Germany, called the hair analysis "scientifically weak" and said there is not enough evidence to tell whether cannabis was used. Whether the Scythians used it to get high remains an open question.
