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GENEVA (AP) — People may have been getting high off cannabis earlier than previously thought — at least 2,800 years ago, a new study suggests.

Archaeologists who led a dig at a monumental tomb in Siberia said they turned up evidence of the earliest known use of cannabis for psychoactive purposes.

The findings point to cannabis consumption at least 300 years earlier than previously known use in neighboring China.

Ancient drug use has long intrigued scholars. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote about inhabitants of Central Asia smoking cannabis around 440 B.C., and recent archaeologists have found the seeds in tombs across its highlands.

The team from Germany, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland said analysis of hair in the royal tomb where cannabis seeds turned up sheds new light on the plant’s role in ancient societies.

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[-] RT69@lemmy.zip 30 points 1 day ago

“If we could sniff or swallow something that would, for five or six hours each day, abolish our solitude as individuals, atone us with our fellows in a glowing exaltation of affection and make life in all its aspects seem not only worth living, but divinely beautiful and significant, and if this heavenly, world-transfiguring drug were of such a kind that we could wake up next morning with a clear head and an undamaged constitution — then, it seems to me, all our problems (and not merely the one small problem of discovering a novel pleasure) would be wholly solved and earth would become paradise.” – Aldous Huxley

[-] kmartburrito@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago

This Huxley fellow may be onto something

[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

Oh he’s on a lot of things

[-] RT69@lemmy.zip 3 points 23 hours ago
[-] sundray@lemmus.org 16 points 1 day ago
[-] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

they come with their own rolling papers.

hey, it's better than eating I guess https://www.thearchaeologist.org/blog/why-did-people-start-eating-egyptian-mummies

[-] desu@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago

I was told that hair could only be tested up to 90 days!

[-] SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

If you die within that time it wouldn’t have be able to be processed out?

[-] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 day ago

It would be so fucking rad if they could cultivate those seeds just to see how potent they are. Yeah I know modern weed is insanely strong compared to stuff from even the 60s but it'd be cool to find out nonetheless.

[-] Etterra@discuss.online 2 points 23 hours ago

Okay but was it good stuff or just ditch weed?

[-] mrmisses@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

Imagine all the things they tried to smoke before finding something good

[-] charade_you_are@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

you could grow cannabis in Siberia in 440 BC? Must have been the well known superior Siberian hydroponics techniques of 440 BC

[-] Bonesince1997@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Yo I'm so mummified right now.

[-] SpruceBringsteen@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Should post this to Highly Interesting.

[-] DarkSpectrum@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Mummies on gummies

[-] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

Puff puff pass man, stop bogarting the good shit.

[-] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Now that's what I call a landrace strain.

this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2026
197 points (100.0% liked)

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