Long before the counterculture revolution of the 1960s, Bronze Age Europeans were turning on and off hallucinogenic drugs.
While archaeologists have long suspected it, a new analysis of hair recovered from a 3,600-year-old burial site in Spain provides the first direct evidence of drug use among residents of ancient Europe.
Discoveries of remains of psychoactive plants and preparation tools and representations in art have foreshadowed European cultures searching for altered states consciousness. But detecting trace amounts of the compounds even in samples of body tissues like hair carries far more weight.
Only hair doesn’t stick as long as bones and teeth. Researchers from the University of Valladolid and the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain, and the University of Chile were fortunate to uncover specimens that were unusually well preserved as part of a burial ritual.
Researchers tested the hair using advanced particle processing techniques and identified key traces of atropine And scopolamine, which can cause both hallucinations and altered sensory perception. There was evidence of this too ephedrinea stimulant known to increase excitement and alertness.
“The results provide direct evidence of plant drug use and, more interestingly, reveal use of multiple psychoactive species,” the researchers said write in their published work.
nightshades such as mandrake (Mandragora autumnalis), henbane (Hyoscyamus albus), thorn apple (Datura stramonium) and common jaws (Ephedra fragile) are the most likely sources for the drugs, the researchers say. These plants would have been present in the area where the burial site is located and were found on other similar sites.
The researchers believe the drugs may have been administered as part of some kind of ritual and were likely delivered by a shaman: an ancient figure of medicine and religion who has extensive experience in preparing and delivering the plant material.
“Given the potential toxicity of the alkaloids found in hair, their handling, use and application represented highly specialized knowledge,” write Researchers.
“This knowledge was typically possessed by shamans, who were able to control the side effects of plant drugs through an ecstasy that enabled diagnosis or divination.”
The rare hair samples were found in the Es Càrritx cave in Menorca. While more than 200 people have been buried here, hair samples have only been taken from a few of them: the hair was dyed red as part of their burial ritual and placed in special containers at the rear of the cave chamber, although it is not clear why.
There is also something interesting about the containers. Made of wood and antler, they feature concentric circles that could well be painted as eyes – perhaps suggesting that the hallucinogens they contain could alter a person’s vision or consciousness. Similar designs were made seen on other sites.
According to the research team, one reason the hair samples were stashed may have been to preserve local traditions after a cultural shift that appears to have happened around the same time. Now, more than three millennia later, these traditions have actually been rediscovered.
“These results confirm the use of various alkaloid-containing plants by local communities of this western Mediterranean island at the beginning of the first millennium BC.” write Researchers.
The research was published in Scientific Reports.
