The origins of cannabis smoking: Chemical residue evidence from the first millennium BCE in the Pamirs

Summary & key facts

Archaeologists chemically tested plant residues from wooden braziers found in graves at the Jirzankal Cemetery in the eastern Pamirs. The tests show cannabis was burned during mortuary ceremonies about 2,500 years ago. That means people in western China were likely smoking cannabis as part of religious or ritual events back then, and the plants they used seem to have had strong mind‑altering chemicals. The finding is one of the earliest direct scientific proofs of ritual cannabis smoking, though it does not tell us how common the practice was or every way the plant was used.

Key facts:

• Researchers chemically analyzed residues from wooden braziers excavated at the Jirzankal Cemetery in the eastern Pamirs.
• The residues show cannabis was burned during mortuary or funeral ceremonies roughly 2,500 years ago.
• The chemical evidence indicates the cannabis plants then produced high levels of psychoactive compounds, meaning the smoke could alter minds or consciousness.
• The study provides some of the earliest directly dated and scientifically verified evidence for ritual cannabis smoking in western China.
• Archaeological evidence for ceremonial cannabis use has been limited and debated before this study, so these results add important, but not complete, information about ancient practices.

Abstract

Cannabis is one of the oldest cultivated plants in East Asia, grown for grain and fiber as well as for recreational, medical, and ritual purposes. It is one of the most widely used psychoactive drugs in the world today, but little is known about its early psychoactive use or when plants under cultivation evolved the phenotypical trait of increased specialized compound production. The archaeological evidence for ritualized consumption of cannabis is limited and contentious. Here, we present some of the earliest directly dated and scientifically verified evidence for ritual cannabis smoking. This phytochemical analysis indicates that cannabis plants were burned in wooden braziers during mortuary ceremonies at the Jirzankal Cemetery (ca. 500 BCE) in the eastern Pamirs region. This suggests cannabis was smoked as part of ritual and/or religious activities in western China by at least 2500 years ago and that the cannabis plants produced high levels of psychoactive compounds.

Topics

Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies Psychedelics and Drug Studies Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research

Categories

Clinical Psychology Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Biochemistry Biology Cannabis Geography Medicine Psychiatry Residue (chemistry)

Substances

Cannabis