Long before Amsterdam's coffee shops, there were hallucinogenic seeds
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Thursday, November 14, 2024


Long before Amsterdam's coffee shops, there were hallucinogenic seeds
In an image provided by BIAX Consult, a stash of black henbane seeds and the hollow animal-bone container that had kept them safe for some 1,900 years before their discovery near Utrecht, Netherlands in 2011. The find provides the first evidence of the intentional use of a powerful psychedelic plant in Western Europe during the Roman Era. (BIAX Consult via The New York Times)

by Rachel Nuwer



NEW YORK, NY.- In 2011, archaeologists in the Netherlands discovered an ancient pit filled with 86,000 animal bones at a Roman era farmstead near the city of Utrecht. It fell to Martijn van Haasteren, an archaeozoologist at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, to sort through them.

Deep into the cataloging process, van Haasteren was cleaning the mud from yet another bone when something unexpected happened: Hundreds of black specks the size of poppy seeds came pouring out from one end.

The specks turned out to be seeds of black henbane, a potently poisonous member of the nightshade family that can be medicinal or hallucinogenic depending on the dosage. The bone — hollowed-out and sealed with a tar plug — was an ancient stash pouch that had kept the seeds safe for some 1,900 years.

Researchers determined that the bone was deposited in the pit somewhere between A.D. 70 and 100 — a time when the Netherlands represented the Roman Empire’s northern border. Parts of the container were smooth, suggesting frequent handling.

This “very special” discovery provides the first definitive evidence that Indigenous people living in such a far-flung Roman province had knowledge of black henbane’s powerful properties, said Maaike Groot, an archaeozoologist at the Free University of Berlin and a co-author of a paper published in the journal Antiquity last month describing the finding.

At the time that the original owner stuffed the container full of seeds, the properties of black henbane were already well known in Rome. Writings by Pliny the Elder and others testify to the medicinal use of black henbane seeds and leaves, but warn that an overindulgence will result in mind-altering effects.

The plant was mostly used during Roman times as an ointment for pain relief, although some sources also reference smoking its seeds or adding its leaves to wine. It seems its psychedelic effects came to the fore in the Middle Ages, when black henbane became associated “with witches and summoning demons,” said van Haasteren, who is a co-author of the paper.

Whether Roman knowledge of black henbane’s special properties traveled to the empire’s more distant corners — or whether this knowledge might have been developed independently by local communities — has been a difficult question for scholars to answer.

Black henbane has been found at archaeological sites in the Netherlands that date back to the Neolithic period. But because it is a wild plant that readily grows in the disturbed soil near settlements, experts have been unable to ascertain whether it was used by people or was just part of the environment.

In 2008, for example, archaeologists found a Roman-Era ceramic beaker in Voorburg that had been filled with dirt over time. In the dirt, they found one black henbane seed along with 26 hazelnuts and a single grain each of corn, barley, wheat and various other seeds. “The overall composition of the seeds seemed to point at the intentional use of black henbane as some kind of medicine or hallucinogen,” said Jasper de Bruin, curator of the “Netherlands in Roman Times” collection at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, who was not involved in the new research.

However, according to Laura Kooistra, a retired archaeobotanist and a co-author on the latest findings, a single seed embedded in soil does not provide the degree of certainty needed to draw conclusions about whether black henbane was used by people. “One swallow does not make a summer,” she said.

The bone container, on the other hand, does provide that level of smoking-gun evidence. “It shows, for the first time in Western Europe, the deliberate collection of seeds of the poisonous black henbane during the Roman Period,” said Otto Brinkkemper, an archaeobotanist at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, who was not involved in the research.

Experts can only guess, though, what purpose the seeds might have served.

The authors of the new study refer to black henbane as a medicinal plant, said Astrid Van Oyen, an archaeologist at Radboud University in Nijmegen, who was not involved in the research. But it is also possible that black henbane was used by people “actively seeking psychoactive experiences” for spiritual, therapeutic or recreational purposes, she said.

“This find shows us a rare glimpse of a possible way in which people navigated and mediated the anxieties, stresses, hopes and aspirations of daily life,” Van Oyen said. “Whoever collected all these seeds in this makeshift container did this deliberately and skillfully — they knew what they were doing.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.










Today's News

March 27, 2024

Asia Week New York 2024 rings up over $100M in sales

Long before Amsterdam's coffee shops, there were hallucinogenic seeds

Two paintings by women artists of the Boston School acquired by National Gallery of Art

A rare and important manuscript of the Khamsas of Nizami leads Christie's sale

A rock fell from space into Sweden. Who owns it on Earth?

Haines announces representation of Deborah Butterfield

PIASA auction: La Joconde by Marcel Duchamp for sale

Haus der Kunst: Xue Tan to become Chief Curator of Haus der Kunst

Jon Nicholson to release MACCHINA photographic book, London exhibition and Ayrton Senna print

For one Afghan potter, home is in his work

The encounter that put pianist Kelly Moran on an unexpected path

What 'KateGate' says about royalty, celebrity and internet culture

How do you become the U.K.'s hottest new band? The old-fashioned way.

Has fashion canceled canceling?

A second act for ballet in Iran?

States have spent $25 billion to Woo Hollywood. Is it worth it?

Vampire Weekend did not make a 'Doom and Gloom Record'

National Portrait Gallery calls for entries to its annual Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize

Asian & Indian art from "The Collection of Walter and Nesta Spink" highlight Moran's 2-day Traditional Collector sale

A French-Malian singer is caught in an Olympic storm

Game-Changer Galore: Elevate Your Play with Online Slot Innovation

New Rabona Games Released in March 2024

Art as a Healing Journey: Exploring th Therapeutic Advantages of Creativity

The Future of Online Casino Payments in Singapore: Cryptocurrency

Dazzle Your Kitchen The Artistry of Glass Kitchen Splashbacks

Unraveling Threads: The History and Evolution of Crochet

Take the Plunge with Smonet SR5 Pool Skimmer: Say Goodbye to Pool Debris




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Holistic Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful