2,700-year-old marijuana stash found

[hyphaenation]

It was still green even !

Researchers say they have located the world's oldest stash of marijuana, in a tomb in a remote part of China.


The cache of cannabis is about 2,700 years old and was clearly "cultivated for psychoactive purposes," rather than as fibre for clothing or as food, says a research paper in the Journal of Experimental Botany.
The 789 grams of dried cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture, near Turpan in northwestern China.


The extremely dry conditions and alkaline soil acted as preservatives, allowing a team of scientists to carefully analyze the stash, which still looked green though it had lost its distinctive odour.


"To our knowledge, these investigations provide the oldest documentation of cannabis as a pharmacologically active agent," says the newly published paper, whose lead author was American neurologist Dr. Ethan B. Russo.
Remnants of cannabis have been found in ancient Egypt and other sites, and the substance has been referred to by authors such as the Greek historian Herodotus. But the tomb stash is the oldest so far that could be thoroughly tested for its properties.


The 18 researchers, most of them based in China, subjected the cannabis to a battery of tests, including carbon dating and genetic analysis. Scientists also tried to germinate 100 of the seeds found in the cache, without success.
The marijuana was found to have a relatively high content of THC, the main active ingredient in cannabis, but the sample was too old to determine a precise percentage.


Researchers also could not determine whether the cannabis was smoked or ingested, as there were no pipes or other clues in the tomb of the shaman, who was about 45 years old.
The large cache was contained in a leather basket and in a wooden bowl, and was likely meant to be used by the shaman in the afterlife.
"This materially is unequivocally cannabis, and no material has previously had this degree of analysis possible," Russo said in an interview from Missoula, Mont.


"It was common practice in burials to provide materials needed for the afterlife. No hemp or seeds were provided for fabric or food. Rather, cannabis as medicine or for visionary purposes was supplied."
The tomb also contained bridles, archery equipment and a harp, confirming the man's high social standing.
Russo is a full-time consultant with GW Pharmaceuticals, which makes Sativex, a cannabis-based medicine approved in Canada for pain linked to multiple sclerosis and cancer.


The company operates a cannabis-testing laboratory at a secret location in southern England to monitor crop quality for producing Sativex, and allowed Russo use of the facility for tests on 11 grams of the tomb cannabis.
Researchers needed about 10 months to cut red tape barring the transfer of the cannabis to England from China, Russo said.
The inter-disciplinary study was published this week by the British-based botany journal, which uses independent reviewers to ensure the accuracy and objectivity of all submitted papers.


The substance has been found in two of the 500 Gushi tombs excavated so far in northwestern China, indicating that cannabis was either restricted for use by a few individuals or was administered as a medicine to others through shamans, Russo said.


"It certainly does indicate that cannabis has been used by man for a variety of purposes for thousands of years."
Russo, who had a neurology practice for 20 years, has previously published studies examining the history of cannabis.
"I hope we can avoid some of the political liabilities of the issue," he said, referring to his latest paper.


The region of China where the tomb is located, Xinjiang, is considered an original source of many cannabis strains worldwide.

Further reading about the find:

http://cannabiscoalition.ca/info/Rus...nnabis2008.pdf
http://cannabiscoalition.ca/info/Rus...ntary_Data.pdf

[Hippie3]

fire some up...

[bmad]

thats interesting. I could go back to my old bedroom where I grew up and probably unearth some there.. but it wouldnt be worth carbon dating or anything

[Ras Asad]

wow!! very very cool! thanks hyph!!

woulda been amazing if some of those beans germed!!

[IntotheLabyrinth]

789 grams? Thats trafficking! Lock him up and throw away the key!

[hyphaenation]

Pics including trichomes and seed.

[tobynutz]

we need someone to leak those genetics to the public lol. that would be cool to get a hold of some of those seeds

[greenie]

FUCK YES!! I wanna smoke some of dat CAveman shit! i cannot beleiev there are still trichomes on that shit.

[wildburr]

Killer chronic from BC

[vwguy]

that would kick ass

[vinz]

super

[Fresh Brewed]

Originally Posted by wildburr

Killer chronic from BC

BC Bud

[Ras Asad]

Originally Posted by hyphaenation

Pics including trichomes and seed.

wow man!! ..... that is crazyY!!

you know someone sampled something somewhere sometime after the find.

just amazing man, thanks

[TVCasualty]

The 789 grams of dried Cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture, near Turpan in northwestern China.

That guy was just probably selling some nugs so he could afford to follow Confucius around on tour (most people don't know that Confucius was a badass Guqin player). The real tragedy is that so much bud went unsmoked...

In a few thousand years when someone chips an old VW bus out of a glacier and finds a bunch of Panic fans in it with a stash of mushrooms and weed, I'm guessing they too will be assumed to be ancient 'shamans'. I suppose a new definition of shaman could be "someone who died next to their stash a long time ago."

Good stuff. Wonder what strain it was?

[Shroomette]

Very interesting thread you got Hyphaenation. Thanks for the sharing as always you get my attention with these excellent reads. It's always amazing to find out about past events. I would frame that bud. imo

[wildburr]

Originally Posted by TVCasualty

That guy was just probably selling some nugs so he could afford to follow Confucius around on tour (most people don't know that Confucius was a badass Guqin player). The real tragedy is that so much bud went unsmoked...

In a few thousand years when someone chips an old VW bus out of a glacier and finds a bunch of Panic fans in it with a stash of mushrooms and weed, I'm guessing they too will be assumed to be ancient 'shamans'. I suppose a new definition of shaman could be "someone who died next to their stash a long time ago."

Good stuff. Wonder what strain it was?

Then bury me next to my stash, I would like the future world to think i was a shaman also.

[MycoChondria]

The thought of a shaman having a giggle-attack is intriguing to me

[rocketman]

Better clean house man

[Beastmaster]

[Helliex]

Pass that shit this way hehe

[greenie]

Originally Posted by TVCasualty

In a few thousand years when someone chips an old VW bus out of a glacier and finds a bunch of Panic fans in it with a stash of mushrooms and weed, I'm guessing they too will be assumed to be ancient 'shamans'. I suppose a new definition of shaman could be "someone who died next to their stash a long time ago."

I LOVE it!

[bluefungis182]

i want to be buried with my willie nelson

[dice]

Thats awesome it was still green.
Never woulda thought that after so long.

[Skatterman420]

They need to have people smoke that shit, from the picture it appears that "Our Grandfather's Weed" quite possibly could have been dank unlike the myths. Even better "Our Ancestor's Weed."




"Today's Weed Isn't Your Ancestors' Weed"

[Beastmaster]

It would be interesting to hear what the THC content is, and then compare it to the levels present in todays monster marijuana, vs the so called tame stuff from 3 decades ago.

I wonder if anyone smoked any of it. There's got to have been at least one curious intern...

[Ras Asad]

yep, my thoughts exactly beast.

one of them had to at least take a vape rip. lol

[dice]

Yeah I agree Beast def look like they knew what they were doing.
Those trichomes look really resin filled. Thats the dank of 2700 years ago.

[vinz]

2700 years of curing!
yummmmmmmm

[TVCasualty]

Researchers needed about 10 months to cut red tape barring the transfer of the Cannabis to England from China

You know, it's a little odd to think that if I got entombed in my house with my stash (say after a volcanic eruption or something), 2,700 years later it might still cause a bureaucratic clusterfuck when someone found it. Here in the U.S. they might even seize my tomb and look for evidence of who I might have received it from and then raid their tombs as well.

WTF is wrong with these pinheaded bureaucrats? You can transfer kids toys with lead paint or GHB in them (remember Aqua Dots?) or bring a few cans of melamine-fortified milk from China to England, but not 11 grams of archeological-grade weed. Then again, they might have determined that the cannabis was the Killer Skunk variety invading the UK lately...

[Ras Asad]

no kidding TV, i agree.

makes me want to use vulgar language towards them.

effers. lol

[vinz]

they showed this too in 'attack of the show'

http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/...gh-120208.html

there was a quick video clip on the stash
doesnt look 2700 years old.. weird how it stayed that way..

[dice]

Originally Posted by vinz

they showed this too in 'attack of the show'

http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/...gh-120208.html

there was a quick video clip on the stash
doesnt look 2700 years old.. weird how it stayed that way..

Wow vinz i didnt see it looked that good. Man it made my mouth water
watching that video. Not just the girl either lol.

[growDaddy]

I think that was that girls personal stash, that didn't look like 2700 year old bud, not that I would know what 2700 year old bud looks like.

[TVCasualty]

Originally Posted by vinz

they showed this too in 'attack of the show'

http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/...gh-120208.html

there was a quick video clip on the stash
doesnt look 2700 years old.. weird how it stayed that way..

Wow, it did look good. Real good. Manicured to perfection, too. I can't imagine how it stayed so nice and fluffy and green all that time, unless it was some archeology intern playing a joke that's getting out of hand.

If it is that old, it'd be cool to find some seeds and try some tissue culturing of the inner seed coat to see if the mother plant could be resurrected.

[Sillycyber]

I wanna read that trip report. lol, this is awesome. Yeah, resurrecting it would be pretty interesting and amazing.

[eastwood]

Originally Posted by vinz

they showed this too in 'attack of the show'

http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/...gh-120208.html

there was a quick video clip on the stash
doesnt look 2700 years old.. weird how it stayed that way..

Not that i know what 3,000 year old bud looks like but it sure doesn't seem to look like what i expected 3,000 year old bud to look like.It looked like fresh nugs to me.

[dead_diver]

Originally Posted by eastwood

Not that i know what 3,000 year old bud looks like but it sure doesn't seem to look like what i expected 3,000 year old bud to look like.It looked like fresh nugs to me.

...trimmed and manicured fresh nugs. I think there may be some shenanigans going on here.

[greenie]

itll be funny if mycotopia is where the people catch on... lOL

[eastwood]

Originally Posted by greenie

itll be funny if mycotopia is where the people catch on... lOL

[TVCasualty]

Originally Posted by greenie

itll be funny if mycotopia is where the people catch on... lOL

It would also totally make sense if we called first. Where else are you gonna find as much experience and expertise on the subjects of mind altering substances, ancient history, shamanism, smuggling, and cannabis botany, all concentrated in one place? That's the kind of diverse skill set needed to unravel this possibly not-so-ancient mystery.

Remember that the first archaeologists who saw the cave paintings in the Tassili Plateau theorized that the smiling, dancing (and oddly-shaped) people painted on the cave walls were flying through space holding up their little hammers. Uh, who goes dancing with their hammers? Those were psychedelic mushrooms, Dr. Expert, and the depictions of ancient gatherings where everyone was tripping balls were obvious as hell to anyone with any experience in the matter. Also note that most archaeology interns are mega-stoners (they almost smoke as much as geology students). One of them may well have misplaced their stash (anyone know if it was discovered inside a ziplock bag? Can we carbon date ziplocks?).

But do they send us some samples to test? Hell no! They take 10 months just to cut the red tape to get it to the UK for testing (wonder how much all that cost?) when they merely had to search Mycotopia's vaults for various tried and true methods for getting your stash through the airport. I'm sure one of the archeologists' kids could've got it right through without a problem with the rest of his stash.

[greenie]

Originally Posted by TVCasualty

It would also totally make sense if we called first. Where else are you gonna find as much experience and expertise on the subjects of mind altering substances, ancient history, shamanism, smuggling, and cannabis botany, all concentrated in one place? That's the kind of diverse skill set needed to unravel this possibly not-so-ancient mystery.

Remember that the first archaeologists who saw the cave paintings in the Tassili Plateau theorized that the smiling, dancing (and oddly-shaped) people painted on the cave walls were flying through space holding up their little hammers. Uh, who goes dancing with their hammers? Those were psychedelic mushrooms, Dr. Expert, and the depictions of ancient gatherings where everyone was tripping balls were obvious as hell to anyone with any experience in the matter. Also note that most archaeology interns are mega-stoners (they almost smoke as much as geology students). One of them may well have misplaced their stash (anyone know if it was discovered inside a ziplock bag? Can we carbon date ziplocks?).

But do they send us some samples to test? Hell no! They take 10 months just to cut the red tape to get it to the UK for testing (wonder how much all that cost?) when they merely had to search Mycotopia's vaults for various tried and true methods for getting your stash through the airport. I'm sure one of the archeologists' kids could've got it right through without a problem with the rest of his stash.

they need to outsource some work to us here! valuable resource just wasting away! guess that would mean were entitled to some kind of taxbreak huh?