With so much research being conducted around cannabis and its ability to alleviate pain, anxiety, and much more, it was only a matter of time before a group of archaeologists found evidence of the world's first weed smoker. We're not entirely at the point where we can identify the incredible person who introduced us all to the benefits of marijuana but in Asia, traces of the first ever burn sesh were found in an ancient tomb.
As reported by Complex, our ancestors have been sparking up for a very, very, very long time. A new study conducted by Science Advances has determined that during ancient Chinese burial ceremonies, the cannabis plant may have been lit in order to communicate with the dead.
"One of the long-standing research debates in Central Asian archaeology has been the origins of drug use, especially centering around ephedra and cannabis," wrote Yimin Yang, who fronted the study. "We were interested in knowing if these crops were popular in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages in western China. However, archaeologists and archaeobotanists have only found fragmentary evidence for these psychoactive plants and it is hard to judge how ancient people consumed them."
While we don't know how people were consuming the drug, a high level of THC residue was found at the ancient site. The study took place at the Jirzankal Cemetery and although it is well-known that the people in ancient China used marijuana for oil and cloth since 3500 B.C., these new findings mark the first instances of people burning the plant to get high.
"A special musical instrument was also found, [as well as] burn traces on many other wooden artifacts. So we interpreted that the funeral ritual may have included fire, music and smoking," said Yang.
