Scientists have found traces of hallucinogen use in the hair of the inhabitants of Bronze Age Spain. An article about it was published in Scientific Reports.
Anthropologists already had evidence of prehistoric drug use in Europe based on secondary evidence such as the discovery of opium alkaloids in Bronze Age pots, the discovery of narcotic plant remains at ritual sites, and the appearance of such plants in artistic depictions.
Now Elisa Guerra-Doce and her colleagues from the University of Valladolid discovered Hair strands from Es Carritx Cave in Menorca, the first settlement in the European Bronze Age, about 3,600 years ago. This cave contains a burial chamber used 2,800 years ago and about 210 people were buried with it. At the same time, the hair of some of the burials was dyed red and placed in a wooden or horn container, and then hidden in a separate room deep in the cave.
Hair keeps a track of what a person eats and consumes throughout his life. The scientists detected the presence of atropine, scopolamine and ephedrine alkaloids using high-resolution liquid chromatography, mass spectroscopy. Atropine and scopolamine are found in plants in the nightshade family and can cause delirium, hallucinations, and altered sensory perception. Ephedrine is a stimulant derived from certain species of shrubs and conifers that promotes arousal and physical activity.
The authors believe this indicates the use of mandrake-type plants (mandragora autumn), henbane (Hyoscyamus albus) and ordinary (Datura stramonium) and conifer (ephedra phragile). According to scientists, these plants were consumed by shamans during rituals and given to others. The concentric circles on the hair caps may have depicted the eyes as a metaphor for the “inner vision” associated with drug use.
ancient biologists raised artificial fat for test tube meat.