Archaeologists have found the earliest reported evidence of cannabis being used for its psychoactive effects in a 2,800-year-old monumental tomb in southern Siberia. More than 1,000 cannabis seeds and chemical traces of cannabis compounds in human hair were discovered at the Tunug burial site, suggesting that cannabis may have played a role in funeral rituals that possibly included human sacrifice.
Cannabis in a Siberian burial mound
In a study published Thursday, November 5, in the journal Science, researchers examined the contents of the “King’s Mound” at the Tunug site in the Uyuk Valley of southern Siberia.
Archaeologists found four wooden structures at the center of the mound, including several log coffins. Skeletons of horses lay on top of the wooden burial structure, forming what researchers described as a “spectral matrix.” The arrangement is consistent with funeral traditions associated with the Scythians, which included horse and human sacrifice.
Inside the burial structure, the team found a pile of small seeds from Cannabis ruderalis, a wild form of cannabis. Researchers recovered more than 1,000 whole cannabis seeds and approximately 500 partial seeds. The seeds were carbon-dated to about 2,800 years ago.
Traces of psychoactive compounds
The researchers also recovered human hair from the grave. Chemical analysis detected matching signals for cannabinol and tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, a psychoactive compound found in cannabis. However, the analysis could not determine how much cannabis people had consumed.
“Molecular traces of hair and cannabis seeds came from the same grave, suggesting that cannabis was used for its intoxicating effects,” said study lead author Gino Caspari, an archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology in Jena, Germany, according to a statement.
Cannabis likely originated in Asia and was cultivated thousands of years ago for purposes including rope, textiles and oilseed production. Evidence suggests it was grown as an oilseed crop 6,000 years ago, but it has been unclear when people first recognized its psychoactive properties.
In the fifth century B.C., the ancient Greek historian Herodotus wrote that Scythian nomads inhaled smoke produced by burning hemp seeds. Artifacts associated with cannabis use had previously been found in Chinese cemeteries and dated to around 500 B.C.; the new study pushes the archaeological evidence back by three centuries.
A possible role in sacrifice rituals
The circumstances of the burial suggest that the cannabis may have served a darker purpose. The large-scale horse sacrifices found in the tomb may have accompanied human sacrifices as well, although the evidence for human sacrifice remains uncertain.
“In this prince’s tomb, burials were accompanied by large-scale horse sacrifices, and possibly human sacrifices as well,” Caspari said. The researchers wrote that cannabis may have been used to calm people who took part in, or were subjected to, such rituals.
The researchers said the study confirms cannabis use in ancient funeral ceremonies in Central Asia as early as 2,800 years ago. Future work will examine other aspects of ancient cannabis, including its domestication and spread.
“We have already started sequencing some of the plant samples,” Caspari said. “This will help us learn more about the history of domestication and spread of this crop in the near future.”
Caspari, G., Sadykov, T., Formicheva, D., Blochin, J., Armbruster, D., Happel, O., Ryabogina, N., Boxleitner, K., Spengler, R. (2026). “Direct evidence of psychoactive cannabis use 2800 years ago.” Science.
Source: www.livescience.com