Cannabis plant is an ancient crop, say the archaeologists, which have unearthed 13 cannabis plants in an ancient tomb in northern China. The scientists believe this old famous plant was popular in China as ritualistic or medicinal, maybe, mind-altering substance.
Cannabis plant that was unearthed by the archaeologists in the ancient tomb in China, says the publication in Economic Botany. According to the lead author Hongen Jiang, it is the “extraordinary cache” of 13 “nearly whole” female cannabis plants were arranged diagonally like a shroud over the body of a dead man about 35-year-old. Archaeologists suggest he was shaman.
Cannabis plants are between 19 and 35 inches, and carbon analysis showed that the cemetery is 2,800 to 2,400 years old.
The scientists suggest cannabis was popular because of its psychoactivity, possibly to facilitate communication between the human and spirit worlds. Moreover, cannabis a great appetite stimulant and has a medicinal value, so ancient Chinese used to lay it even to the graves. According to the researchers:
“Apparently, medicinal and possibly spiritual or at least ritualistic Cannabis use was a widespread custom among Central Eurasian peoples during the first millennium before the Christian era.”
