Researchers investigating ancient human civilizations recently discovered that 3,000 years ago, ancient humans were utilizing hallucinogenic compounds to get high during cave rites.
Experts’ discovery of hairs from a burial site in Menorca, Spain, proves that archaic human civilizations used medications made from plants and bushes.
The BBC reported that the research, which was published in the journal Scientific Reports, revealed evidence of human activity at the Es Carritx cave on Menorca’s southwest coast. More than 200 human tombs are located in the cave, which is thought to have been used as a ritual and funerary site for roughly 600 years, up until 800 BCE.
As early as the Palaeolithic period, humans came across the non-food properties of certain plants
The authors of the study explained that “as early as the Palaeolithic period, humans came across the non-food properties of certain plants.” The results presented here indicate that several alkaloid-bearing plants were consumed by Bronze Age people from Menorca (although Solanaceae and Ephedra were not the only ones to have been consumed).”
“Interestingly, the psychoactive substances detected in this study are not suitable for alleviating the pain involved in severe palaeopathological conditions attested in the population buried in the cave of Es Carritx, such as periapical abscesses, severe caries, and arthropathies.”
“Considering the potential toxicity of the alkaloids found in the hair, their handling, use, and applications represented highly specialized knowledge. This knowledge was typically possessed by shamans, who were capable of controlling the side effects of the plant drugs through an ecstasy that made diagnosis or divination possible.”
