Scientists have discovered two pounds of a dried plant that turned out to be the oldest marijuana in the world. Inside one of the Yanghai Tombs excavated in the Gobi Desert, a team of researchers found the cannabis packed into a wooden bowl resting inside a 2,700-year-old grave. It was placed near the head of a blue-eyed, 45-year-old shaman among other objects like bridles and a harp to be used in afterlife.
At first, the researchers thought the dried weed was coriander. Then they spent 10 months getting the cannabis from the tomb in China to a secret lab in England. Finally, the team put the stash through “microscopic botanical analysis” including carbon dating and genetic analysis, and discovered the stash was really pot.
The fact that the weed had a chemical known for psychoactive properties called tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase, or THC, led scientists to believe the man and his community probably used it for medicinal and recreational purposes. According to professor Ethan Russo of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Botany, someone had picked out all the parts of the plant that are less psychoactive before placing it in the grave, therefore the dead man probably didn’t grow his hemp merely to make clothes.
If marijuana aged like wine, pot users might now be in heaven. But the weed had decomposed over the years, so no one would feel any effects if they smoked the artifact today.
Related Content:
Discoblog: Another Type of Lead Pipe to Avoid
80beats: Smoke Weed and Keep Alzheimer’s Away
Reality Base: Man Denied Lifesaving Transplant Due to Marijuana Use
Image: flickr/ BodhiSativa Photography
December 25th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
I’m glad the author of this made sure to inform us no one could smoke it today. Appreciate that info – change of plans.
December 27th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Excellent article shows the resistance of the cannabis plant to genetic disease after 2700 years of being buried next to the head of a human being. Interesting enough the THC factor was less when it went into the grave and higher when it came out of the grave. Although it was mentioned that someone had picked out the flowers of the plant before placing it in the grave, I don’t see what that had to do with making hemp or the natives’ clothes. Of course, if I had picked the flowers from the plant and dried them out in the hot Gobi Sun, I would continue to bring the THC level higher and increase the recreational purposes of psychoactive plant.
December 27th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
How is it known that the shaman had blue eyes? Fascinating.
December 28th, 2008 at 5:55 am
Were thier no seeds present in in the bowl?
December 28th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Marijuana does age like wine, and like wine it must be sealed. Decomp occurs when oxygen is present……@bruce: once you pick the buds cannabinoid content cannot change….also exposure to the sun causes THC degradation into other less desirable cannabinoids
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:34 pm
They did a DNA check on the guy and it turned out he was Caucasian…and had the markers for blue eyes. If I remember correctly, he was also a redhead.
January 6th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Can the DNA check whether he a Dead fan?
January 26th, 2009 at 8:36 am
[...] azules, de 45 años de edad, entre otros de los objetos destinados para su uso en el Más Allá. Leer más * * * * [...]
March 30th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
How much weed was in the tombs? hopeful a lot. afterlife is a long time, it would suck to have run out.
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:52 pm
[...] Read About It [...]