When I'm dead and buried I want to take my plants with me. This guy did, an approximately 35 year old man was dug up along with 13 cannabis plants laid diagonally across his chest. The plants were 3 feet long with the roots orientated under his pelvis and the plants extending just under his chin, up and along the left side of his face.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com...iscovery-scythians-turpan-archaeology-botany/
Radiocarbon dating of the tomb places it at 2400-2800 BP. The man had Caucasian features which is common in northwestern China from that period. The burial is associated with the Subeixi culture who were the first permanent inhabitants of the Turpan Basin. At this time they were transitioning from a nomadic lifestyle to agriculture. Growing wheat, barley, and broomcorn millet.
The cannabis is so well preserved you can see the individual glandular trichomes! The plants were likely buried fresh which means they came from the area of burial. The flowers were mostly trimmed away but the few that remained contained immature seed. (leave the poor guy his buds!)
No textiles have been found associated with Turpan burials. The article says the seeds were too small for food but I don't see why that would matter. It's important to note that these people weren't Scythians but they knew the Scythians, probably traded with and fought with them.
I've seen seeds from Scythian burial sites and they're tiny. Very similar to seeds from modern feral hemp from eastern China. Much smaller then modern drug or hemp seeds. The plants were mature and only 3 feet tall. This tells me they're either wild hemp/Ruderalis or hemp in the process of being domesticated.
The article says
'the researchers suspect the plants were grown for psychoactive resin which was either inhaled as a sort of incense or consumed in a beverage for ritual or medicinal purposes'.
It's either burned like sage or other medicinal herbs in a smudge pot or brazier, as incense, or made into a bhang type beverage, not smoked from a pipe. Pipes entered Eurasia along with tobacco during the Columbian Exchange. (Pre-Columbus pipes have been discovered in medieval Africa but we'll save that for another time. Lots of interesting ganja stuff going on in Africa)
Since textiles weren't found in the graves and the seed was 'too small' they conclude the Subiexi were cultivating (or gathering, I wouldn't rule out wild populations) the cannabis exclusively for drug use. That seems much too extravagant for semi-nomadic subsistence farmers. Cannabis is too useful and life is too hard in the desert to waste anything.
Across the world the hemp plant is venerated, we focus narrowly on the drug because we're stoners but the other uses for the plant are more important in many cultures. Especially as you get further from the equator and THC levels drop. In China, Japan, Korea, Europe, the hemp plant is a part of burial and funeral rituals.
In 21st century Korea mourners still wear hemp clothing to funerals. In England in the 19th century it was considered good luck to keep a piece of hemp rope from a hanging in your pocket. I pick these examples at random because I enjoy them, there's countless others across the world. For thousands of years hemp has been worshiped as part of death and burial rituals.
In this context it's interesting that these ancient people also made cannabis a part of their funeral ritual along with other plants an herbs that were important to them. Cannabis wasn't the only medicinal plant found in these sort of burials.
Another thing worth considering is that these plants weren't potent at all. Wild plants in nearby Kazakhstan collected for hashish have around 3.5% THC, plants closer to the burial site in Mongolia and China have much lower amounts. Considering these were likely wild or hemp plants, there's no evidence of hashish making and the cannabis was not directly inhaled, they wouldn't get you super baked.
They would have probably contained quite a bit of CBD along with whatever THC there was and while it wouldn't have got them ripped it would work as good medicine. I've seen studies that show small amounts of CBD go a long way. And if you made a beverage you could make it much much stronger if you wanted a shamanistic trip.
This is getting long but there's quite a bit more to say, especially about the Scythians and why cannabis was so important to these people. Next post we'll get into the famous Scythian solid gold bongs!!
https://news.nationalgeographic.com...iscovery-scythians-turpan-archaeology-botany/
Radiocarbon dating of the tomb places it at 2400-2800 BP. The man had Caucasian features which is common in northwestern China from that period. The burial is associated with the Subeixi culture who were the first permanent inhabitants of the Turpan Basin. At this time they were transitioning from a nomadic lifestyle to agriculture. Growing wheat, barley, and broomcorn millet.
The cannabis is so well preserved you can see the individual glandular trichomes! The plants were likely buried fresh which means they came from the area of burial. The flowers were mostly trimmed away but the few that remained contained immature seed. (leave the poor guy his buds!)
No textiles have been found associated with Turpan burials. The article says the seeds were too small for food but I don't see why that would matter. It's important to note that these people weren't Scythians but they knew the Scythians, probably traded with and fought with them.
I've seen seeds from Scythian burial sites and they're tiny. Very similar to seeds from modern feral hemp from eastern China. Much smaller then modern drug or hemp seeds. The plants were mature and only 3 feet tall. This tells me they're either wild hemp/Ruderalis or hemp in the process of being domesticated.
The article says
'the researchers suspect the plants were grown for psychoactive resin which was either inhaled as a sort of incense or consumed in a beverage for ritual or medicinal purposes'.
It's either burned like sage or other medicinal herbs in a smudge pot or brazier, as incense, or made into a bhang type beverage, not smoked from a pipe. Pipes entered Eurasia along with tobacco during the Columbian Exchange. (Pre-Columbus pipes have been discovered in medieval Africa but we'll save that for another time. Lots of interesting ganja stuff going on in Africa)
Since textiles weren't found in the graves and the seed was 'too small' they conclude the Subiexi were cultivating (or gathering, I wouldn't rule out wild populations) the cannabis exclusively for drug use. That seems much too extravagant for semi-nomadic subsistence farmers. Cannabis is too useful and life is too hard in the desert to waste anything.
Across the world the hemp plant is venerated, we focus narrowly on the drug because we're stoners but the other uses for the plant are more important in many cultures. Especially as you get further from the equator and THC levels drop. In China, Japan, Korea, Europe, the hemp plant is a part of burial and funeral rituals.
In 21st century Korea mourners still wear hemp clothing to funerals. In England in the 19th century it was considered good luck to keep a piece of hemp rope from a hanging in your pocket. I pick these examples at random because I enjoy them, there's countless others across the world. For thousands of years hemp has been worshiped as part of death and burial rituals.
In this context it's interesting that these ancient people also made cannabis a part of their funeral ritual along with other plants an herbs that were important to them. Cannabis wasn't the only medicinal plant found in these sort of burials.
Another thing worth considering is that these plants weren't potent at all. Wild plants in nearby Kazakhstan collected for hashish have around 3.5% THC, plants closer to the burial site in Mongolia and China have much lower amounts. Considering these were likely wild or hemp plants, there's no evidence of hashish making and the cannabis was not directly inhaled, they wouldn't get you super baked.
They would have probably contained quite a bit of CBD along with whatever THC there was and while it wouldn't have got them ripped it would work as good medicine. I've seen studies that show small amounts of CBD go a long way. And if you made a beverage you could make it much much stronger if you wanted a shamanistic trip.
This is getting long but there's quite a bit more to say, especially about the Scythians and why cannabis was so important to these people. Next post we'll get into the famous Scythian solid gold bongs!!