Gino Caspari and his colleagues say seeds and chemical traces in human hair from a 2,800-year-old Scythian burial point to psychoactive cannabis consumption.
A Scythian burial in southern Siberia contains what researchers say is the earliest direct evidence that people consumed cannabis for its mind-altering effects. The team found seeds in the tomb and cannabis-related chemical signatures in hair from people buried there.
Earlier evidence of psychoactive use came from implements in which cannabis was burned in the Middle East and the Pamir Mountains during the first millennium BC. Cannabis was also cultivated for fiber and oilseed, so evidence of cultivation alone does not establish that people consumed it for its psychoactive effects.
Archaeologist Gino Caspari, who led the study published in Science, said direct evidence is rare because plant material and human soft tissue seldom survive together. He is affiliated with the University of Bern and the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology. CNA published his account of the findings.
The team recovered more than 1,400 cannabis seeds associated with burials inside the monumental tomb in the Uyuk Valley of Russia’s Republic of Tyva. Radiocarbon dating, which estimates the age of organic material, placed the seeds in the early 8th century BC, around the time the burial structure was built. The tomb held high-ranking members of Scythian society, whose relatively nomadic communities were known for horseback warfare and gold craftsmanship.
In the central burial chamber, researchers analyzed hair braids from several people. They found chemical signatures consistent with THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis, and traces of cannabinol, which forms when THC reacts with oxygen. Caspari said the body incorporates cannabis-related molecules into hair, a principle used in drug tests.
The hair alone cannot show how the people consumed cannabis, Caspari said. He considers inhalation likely because of later evidence from the region. He also interprets the cannabis finds as part of a ritual context, saying valued objects were often placed in burials as offerings in the region.
Researchers have begun sequencing DNA from some of the well-preserved seeds. Caspari said it is the oldest cannabis DNA currently known and expects that, over the coming years, the work could add details to and partly rewrite the history of the plant’s domestication.
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