Drug During Prehistoric Period

Drug During Prehistoric Period
In 1975, Ralph Solecki of Columbia University described excavation at the Shanidar Cave in the Zagros Mountains of northern Iraq, where he had unearthed 60 thousand year old Neanderthal bones laid out in the foetal position.

Alongside were clusters of pollen grains from 28 species of flowers.

As seven of these were recognized to be medicinal herbs, it was suggested that this could explain their presence.

The presence of a few plants that are reputed to posses medicinal properties does not in itself mean they were used for such purposes.

They could simply have been food, especially as ancient medicines often originated as components of the diet that were deemed to have beneficial effects on health.

There is indirect evidence of drug use in the Neolithic periods, which began around 11 thousand years ago.

Among remains of plants found in the Spirit Cave in the north-west of Thailand seeds were of the mildly psychoactive betel nut (Areca catechu), placed there between 7000 and 5500 BC.

The earliest direct evidence for human consumption of betel nut comes from the Duyong Cave in the Philippines, where a skeleton from 2680 BC were found buried beside shells containing lime.

This is reminiscent of the practice still seen in India, of wrapping the nut in betel leaf (Piper betel), adding lime (thus liberating the readily absorbable free base of arecoline), then chewing.

As with modern users of betel nut, the teeth of the Duyong Cave skeleton were blackened.
Drug During Prehistoric Period