We have attributed many important innovations to Bronze Age people: the invention of the wheel, the intensification of irrigation, and the first written language. According to a study of remains found on the Spanish island of Menorca, people of that time may have been the founders of another cultural habit: substance use.

In particular, a study of hairs found in a wooden grave deep inside a cave on the island showed that the people to whom they belonged ate plants containing substances known for their psychotropic effects. According to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, the substances found in the samples were ephedrine, scolapamine and atropine. All three substances can be found in the fauna of Menorca in plants such as mandrake.

Unique finds

“These results are so unique,” ​​said Ms Guerra-Doche, an anthropology expert on hallucinogens at the University of Valladolid in Spain. “Sometimes when people think about drugs, they think it’s a modern practice. These findings, however, tell a different story.”

He also stated that the way the compounds are distributed in the hair is evidence that the drugs were used more than a year before people died. While there is no way to know why these ancient people used such powerful drugs, Guerra-Doce noted that the boxes contained patterns that people today might interpret as psychedelic-inspired, a series of concentric circles and other geometric shapes.

It is believed that the ancients used psychoactive plants both for medicinal purposes and in religious ceremonies, but so far most scientific research has relied on circumstantial evidence such as pottery vessels, smoking pipes, or plant remains of the opium poppy or cannabis found in archaeological sites. throughout Eurasia.

While it’s impossible to know for sure, the researcher believes the presence of these drugs suggests that the people who use them were under the guidance of someone, perhaps a shaman, who understood their powers. “We still have so much to learn,” he stressed.