Researchers announced on Monday, November 9, 2026, that they found the oldest evidence of cannabis use for psychoactive effects in a roughly 2,800-year-old tomb in the Uyuk Valley, southern Siberia, Russia.
The tomb, belonging to a high-status individual from the early period of Scythian culture, preserved preserved cannabis seeds and human hair. Radiocarbon dating confirmed the seeds are about 2,800 years old, while mass spectrometry identified THC and cannabinol compounds in the hair samples.
Gino Caspari, the lead researcher from the University of Bern, Switzerland, stated, "There is a lot of speculation about the use of plant-based medicines in prehistoric times. However, through this finding, we can finally show that these speculations have a basis." He added that plant remnants surviving for nearly 3,000 years are extremely rare.
The team successfully collected more than 1,400 cannabis seeds. Analysis showed the hair contained THC, indicating the use of cannabis in a ritual context, likely related to shamanic beliefs, given the discovery of dozens of horses and indications of human sacrifice at the tomb.
This discovery complements previous evidence that cannabis was cultivated in East Asia at least 6,000 years ago and used psychoactively since about 2,500 years ago. Roger Foshaw, a lecturer in Biomedical Egyptology at the University of Manchester, assessed that the chemical traces of cannabis in ancient hair provide direct molecular evidence of the role of psychoactive plants in early Iron Age society.
Source: cnnindonesia.com
