
Earliest known signs of cannabis smoking unearthed in China - jajag
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jun/12/earliest-known-signs-of-cannabis-smoking-unearthed-in-china
======
benbreen
I love this finding, in part because (as the article notes briefly here) it
helps back up Herodotus' account of cannabis use in his _Histories_.
Specifically this bit from Book 4, 73-75:

"After the burial the Scythians cleanse themselves as follows: they anoint and
wash their heads and, for their bodies, set up three poles leaning together to
a point and cover these over with wool mats; then, in the space so enclosed to
the best of their ability, they make a pit in the center beneath the poles and
the mats and throw red-hot stones into it. . . . the Scythians then take the
seed of this κάνναβις (kannabis) and, crawling into the tents, throw it on the
red-hot stones, where it smoulders and sends forth such fumes that no Greek
vapor-bath could surpass it. The Scythians howl in their joy at the vapor-
bath. This serves them instead of bathing, for they never wash their bodies
with water."

What's especially fascinating to me is that Herodotus wrote that account circa
440 BCE, within a few decades of when this find has been dated, and his
"Scythians" were probably part of a larger cultural group of Indo-European
nomads stretching to what is now Western China.

~~~
will_brown
What is a “Greek vapor bath”? In this context it sounds like it would compete
with cannabis.

Maybe a reference to something like what got the Oricle of Delphi high? Is it
just reference to a regular Greek hot bath?

~~~
benbreen
I would think he's just referencing public steam baths, not unlike hammams or
saunas today.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Baths](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Baths)

------
malvosenior
> _Residues of high potency cannabis found in the burners_

I wonder what they mean by high potency. I was under the impression that
cannabis strength has increased a lot in the past 30 years. Do they mean that
this ancient cannabis was of a strength similar to modern cannabis or just
that it was higher in THC concentration than a natural plant would be?

~~~
codr7
The best stuff [0] is still obtained by simply rubbing flowers between the
hands until enough resin accumulates, it wouldn't surprise me if they had
already figured that one out.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charas)

~~~
skellera
We have much better extraction methods these days using solvents.

~~~
codr7
More efficient maybe, which isn't really top priority from a user perspective.
Personally, I prefer my smoke without a touch of solvents.

Bubble Hash (mixing with ice and filtering frozen resin) is a natural
alternative that comes close, but the processing still lowers the quality.

~~~
asdff
The solvents are evaporated off if you process your hash correctly.

~~~
therein
And with solvents like CO2 that evict the chamber without any intervention
under STP, it is actually even more certain that the solvents leave.

------
velox_io
There's a fascinating documentary called: 'The Lost History of Cannabis'. It
goes through how religion seems to be intertwined with cannabis. For instance
the 'anointment oils'. How it probably wasn't Mer gifted by one of the Three
Wise Men (I tend to agree).

Found it:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2p6qFT_Zjg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2p6qFT_Zjg)

~~~
ct0
I could imagine why religion was so much more popular in early history now.

~~~
xkcd-sucks
I mean yeah all religions start out as nutty cults and calcify with age

------
cronix
This article from 2008 seems to predate it. It also talked about sensimilla
crops (separating males from females for cultivation).

[http://www.nbcnews.com/id/28034925/ns/technology_and_science...](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/28034925/ns/technology_and_science-
science/t/worlds-oldest-marijuana-stash-totally-busted/#.XQHbeHtlA6g)

------
hurrdurr2
It's really interesting how stable CBN is after oxidizing from THC... it also
apparently has a strong anti-anxiety effect similar to benzos. It is currently
in a lot of cannabis sleep aids.

------
_emacsomancer_
Here is the area the article discusses, the Pamir mountains:
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/Sa...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/SakastanMap.jpg/800px-
SakastanMap.jpg)

It is in present-day far western China, an area which is historically in the
Indian/Iranian sphere of influence.

------
SN76477
I often thought that the parts of the bible that talk about burning incense
could be speaking of intoicating effects such as cannabis.

Fascinating find.

------
microtherion
So do the Chinese call it "820" ?

