Drug use may have begun 25,000 years ago in Indonesia, research finds (www.bbc.com)

submitted 5 days ago by Wren@lemmy.today to c/wildfeed@sh.itjust.works

4 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Humans may have been using mind-altering substances far earlier than scientists had once thought, new research indicates.

The evidence shows that betel nuts were used as drugs by some Indonesian communities up to 25,000 years ago.

Scientists from Griffith University in Australia found unusual patterns in the skeletal remains of early human foragers, which they linked to the sucking of betel nuts.

Professor Adam Brumm, who led the research, said this may be the "earliest evidence for drug use anywhere in the world".

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 5 points 5 days ago

Likely began far before that, this drug just happens to leave its mark on bone.

this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2026

13 points (100.0% liked)

Wild Feed

646 readers

299 users here now

A catch-all world journalism community for news, reports, blogs, editorials, and whatever.

Be cool to each other. Instance rules apply.
All posts should link to a *current, *good quality blog, article, editorial, listicle, research paper, or something that can be considered "journalism."
Post title should be the article headline.
No misinformation or bigotry.
For paywalled media, please provide an archived link in the text body of the post.
Commenters who don't read the posted article may receive temporary bans. This is a community for informed discussion.
This instance has no rules against calls to violence, please don't report general wishes for violence. I will moderate direct implications of violence (i.e. I will shoot x person in the head) at my discretion.

Tag if needed:

[NSFW] and [Content Warning - x] — At your discretion.

[D/M/Y] — If the publication is older than a month. You can just tag the year if the article is more than a year old.

[Month and/or year] — For old but relevant articles. Use your best judgement.

[Conspiracy Tuesday] — Conspiracy theories/occult themes/cryptids/pseudoscience. On Tuesdays.

[E-mail required] — If an e-mail is needed to sign in.

[Archive link in post] — For paywalls and account sign-ins, link the main article in the URL, paste the archive link in the text body.

*Current means the article contains the most up to date publically available information on the subject, within reason. Older publications are welcome as long as they include a date tag.

*Good quality means the source has a good reputation for accurate journalism with a reasonably clean fact checking record.

Check out !Independent_Media@lemmy.today for independent news from around the world or !indy_news_canada@sh.itjust.works for Canadian independent publications.

All communities were created with the goal of increasing media literacy and media pluralism.

Sources posted here include:

https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/

https://www.apa.org/

apnews.com/

https://arstechnica.com/

https://www.theatlantic.com/

https://www.bbc.com/

https://www.earth.com/

https://www.theguardian.com/international

https://www.lawfaremedia.org/

https://lithub.com/