Tripping in the Bronze Age

A new study based on strands of hair found in a Spanish burial cave reveals that humans living around 3,000 years ago used hallucinogens, probably derived from local plants, as part of their rituals.

Bronze Age humans were credited with a number of civilizational advances: the invention of irrigation, the wheel, writing systems and the ability to forge weapons and tools from the durable metal that gave the era its name.

Now , strands of human hair discovered in an ancient burial cave in Spain suggest another novelty: a propensity to use psychoactive drugs.

Hair, found at the interior of wooden containers hidden deep in a sealed cave in Menorca, an island off the east coast of Spain, have tested positive for a number of mind-altering compounds, suggesting that people who lived there 3,000 years ago incorporated hallucinogenic experiences into the rituals of their lives.

The findings, published Thursday in the journal Nature's Scientific Reports, provide the first direct evidence that ancient Europeans used psychoactive drugs like their pre-Columbian brethren in Mesoamerica, the researchers said.

Elisa Guerra-Doce, the study's lead author , said the researchers were stunned by the results, particularly because the interior of the caves revealed no detectable signs of the drug's presence. A chemical analysis of the hair revealed the presence of three alkaloid substances known to produce altered states of consciousness: ephedrine, atropine and scopolamine.

The compounds themselves are produced by flora native to Menorca. Potent hallucinogens atropine and scopolamine are found in plants of the nightshade family, including mandrake, henbane, and thorn apple. Ephedrine, a stimulant, can be extracted from the common pine tree.

"These results are so singular," said Ms. Guerra-Doce, an anthropology expert from the poisoning at the University of Valladolid in Spain. "Sometimes when people think of the drug, they think it's a modern practice. These results tell a different story."

Ms. Guerra-Doce said stated that the way the compounds were distributed in each strand of hair suggests that the drugs were used over a period of a year and well before death.

ImageA thorn apple tree in Spain. The powerful hallucinogens atropine and scopolamine are found in plants of the nightshade family such as thorn apple, mandrake and henbane, who are from Menorca.Credit...J.M. Barres/agefotostock, via Alamy

The cave, Es Càrritx, was discovered by speleologists in 1995 and housed the remains of over 200 people who had been buried over the course of six centuries, with the last burial in around 800 BCE. Many were related over several generations. Curiously, the cave did not contain the bodies of pregnant women or babies.

For anthropologists, the most important treasure of the cave were the tubular boxes, mainly made of antlers but some made of antler, which contained tufts of hair dyed red. The boxes and their contents survived largely because the cave opening, more than 80 feet below the upper rim of a 300-foot-high gorge, had been sealed off by rubble that had collapsed there a long time ago.

While there is no way of knowing why these ancient people used such powerful drugs, Ms. Guerra-Doce noted that the boxes featured patterns that modern-day humans might interpret as psychedelic-inspired - a series of concentric circles suggestive of the hypnotic bulls-eye designs of yesteryear.

Ancient humans are believed to have the use...