http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3225729/Stone-Age-man-took-drugs-say-scientists.html


Stone Age man took drugs, say scientists
Scientists have discovered evidence suggesting Stone Age man used herbal mixtures
to get high.


By Jonathan Wynne-Jones
Last Updated: 1:05PM BST 20 Oct 2008
Scientists have discovered evidence suggesting Stone Age man used herbal mixtures
to get high.

It has long been suspected that humans have an ancient history of drug use, but
there has been a lack of proof to support the theory.

Now, however, researchers have found equipment used to prepare hallucinogenic
drugs for sniffing, and dated them back to prehistoric South American tribes.

Quetta Kaye, of University College London, and Scott Fitzpatrick, an archeologist from
North Carolina State University, made the breakthrough on the Caribbean island of
Carriacou.

They found ceramic bowls, as well as tubes for inhaling drug fumes or powders,
which appear to have originated in South America between 100BC and 400BC and
were then carried 400 miles to the islands.

While the use of such paraphernalia for inhaling drugs is well-known, the age of the
bowls has thrown new light on how long humans have been taking drugs.

Scientists believe that the drug being used was cohoba, a hallucinogen made from
the beans of a mimosa species. Drugs such as cannabis were not found in the
Caribbean then.

Opiates can be obtained from species such as poppies, while fungi, which was
widespread, may also have been used.

Archeologists have suggested that humans were extracting mind-expanding drugs
from mescal beans and peyote cacti as far back as 5,000 years ago, but have not
found direct evidence that this is true.

They consider that drugs were being used to induce spiritual or trance-like states by
people who had religious beliefs.


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