Traces of drugs have been found in a 3,000-year-old lock of hair. Here, a wooden bowl and a spoon that must have been used to prepare psychotropic potions. Peter Witte, ASOME-Autonomous University of Barcelona.
DECRYPTION – For the first time, scientists have obtained direct evidence of drug use in the Iron Age.
The lock of hair was hidden in a small container out of sight, at the bottom of the cave. As if, more than 3000 years later, their owner still had something to hide… And for good reason, the toxicological analysis carried out by the team of Elisa Guerra-Doce, a specialist in prehistoric drugs (University of Valladolid, Spain), revealed that the owner of this mane had extensively consumed different narcotics over a significant period of time. This is the first time that a study has provided direct evidence of drug use in ancient times in this way (Scientific Reports, 6 avril 2023).
« We had several leads that indicated that drug use was quite common during this period, especially during religious rites, explains Cyril Marcigny, archaeologist from the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research, specializing in the study of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. But, until then, it was circumstantial evidence, like…
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