The inhabitants of the European continent began to use psychoactive substances for ritual purposes as early as the Bronze Age. This conclusion was drawn by scientists who found traces of these substances in the hair of cave dwellers in the Balearic Islands, the study says. published in scientific reports.
In the rocks of the Balearic Islands of the Mediterranean Sea, the ancients dug caves of a certain shape. Since the 1990s, a number of important archaeological discoveries have been made here, including a hoard of wooden and metal artefacts from the Bronze Age.
Scientists led by Elisa Guerra-Doche from the University of Valladolid (Spain) decided to study the composition of human hair found in the cave of Es Carrich, first inhabited around 3,600 years ago. In one part of the cave, 210 people were buried for about 800 years. Some of their hair was dyed red and later placed in bone and wooden containers. The age of these hairs is about 3,000 years.
ASOME-Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
To analyze the hair, the scientists used high performance liquid chromatography and high resolution mass spectrometry to detect the possible presence of alkaloids in the hair.
The analysis showed the presence of atropine, scopolamine and ephedrine. The first two are produced by plants of the nightshade family and can cause delusions, hallucinations, changes in sensory perception. Ephedrine is a psychoactive alkaloid found in ephedra species of conifers.
ASOME-Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
Scientists believe that the presence of these narcotic alkaloids in the composition of hair indicates that cave dwellers used them in ritual ceremonies, most likely with the participation of a shaman. “Interestingly, the psychoactive substances studied in this work were not suitable for reducing pain in the paleopathological conditions in people buried in the cave, such as periapical abscess, severe caries and arthropathy. Considering the potential toxicity of alkaloids found in hair, handling and using them is highly technical knowledge. This knowledge was usually held by shamans who were able to control the side effects of herbal medicines,” the scientists explained.
The authors of the work note that the discovery was the first direct evidence of the use of hallucinogenic drugs by ancient Europeans, which was previously indicated only by indirect data.
