Seeds, preserved hair in tomb point to oldest signs of cannabis high 2,800 years ago, study suggests

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

Key points

• The Greek historian Herodotus wrote regarding inhabitants of Central Asia smoking cannabis around 440 B.C., and recent archaeologists have identified the seeds in tombs throughout its highlands.
• The findings point to cannabis consumption at least 300 years earlier than previously known employ in neighboring China.
• Archaeologists who led a dig at a monumental tomb in Siberia remarked they turned up evidence of the earliest known apply of cannabis for psychoactive purposes.

Notably, the findings point to cannabis consumption at least 300 years earlier than previously known employ in neighboring China.

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

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

"It's extremely rare that we have both preserved plant parts and human soft tissue with the active compounds in it in the same context, " remarked co-author Gino Caspari, an archaeologist at the University of Bern.

In short, seeds, preserved hair in tomb point to oldest signs of cannabis high is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.