They were getting HIGH 2,800 years ago. 🌿
📅 12 November 2026
The oldest direct evidence of cannabis used as an intoxicant: a study in the journal Science (5 November) reports that people buried in a 2,800-year-old Scythian tomb in Siberia were using cannabis for its mind-altering effects.
The tomb, Tunnug 1, is a huge burial mound about 140 metres across in the Uyuk Valley of Tuva, built in the early 8th century BC for high-ranking members of the horse-riding Scythian culture. Researchers found more than 1,000 cannabis seeds among the grave goods — radiocarbon-dated to the early 8th century BC — and chemical traces of THC breakdown products (cannabinol) in preserved braids of human hair from the central burial chamber.
Lead author Gino Caspari (University of Bern / Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology) calls it the earliest securely dated evidence of psychoactive cannabis use — about 300 years before Herodotus described Scythians throwing cannabis on hot stones.
One honest caveat: the study can't say how much was consumed, how potent it was, or whether it was inhaled or eaten — and one forensic toxicologist told the AP the hair analysis is “scientifically weak”, arguing the hair could have picked up traces from surrounding plant material.
A 2,800-year-old high — ritual, medicine, or just a good funeral? 👇