• We are currently performing site maintenance, parts of civfanatics are currently offline, but will come back online in the coming days. For more updates please see here.

Traces of cocaine found in ancient Egyptian mummy

A

appian

Chieftain
Joined
Nov 29, 2008
Messages
72
Abstract. Data are presented on the biochemical findings in several internal organs from an Egyptian mummy with a 14C-dating of approximately 950 B.C. By use of radio immunoassay systems and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, significant amounts of various drugs were detected in internal organs (lung, liver, stomach, intestines) as well as in hair, bone, skin/muscle and tendon. These analyses revealed a significant deposition of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), nicotine (and its metabolite cotinine) and cocaine in the tissue from the mummy. The concentration profiles additionally provide evidence for the preferential ways of consumption: Thus, the highest levels of THC in lung specimens point to an inhalation of this drug - as it has been assumed from known ritual smoking ceremonies -, while nicotine and cocaine containing drugs showed their highest concentrations in the intestines and liver, so that they seem to have been consumed perorally. Furthermore, a histopathological examination of the internal organ tissues revealed some evidence for the underlying disease and the probable cause of death. Thus, a severe and presumably recurrent
intravital pulmonary bleeding, most obviously due to a parasitosis affecting the lung, was observed.

Introduction. At present, the consumption of significant amounts of drugs can be monitored by specific drug measurements or by analysis of their metabolites in various body fluids [1]. This procedure is usually applied to present drug addicts. For monitoring of patients, these techniques have been adapted to tissue specimens [2] and hair [3, 4]. In our previous studies we have used this methodology to analyse historic tissue samples [5-8]. Hence, we have provided circumstantial evidence that some drugs had already been consumed in historic populations. This investigation was done on historic skeletal remnants, either from pre-Columbian Peru or ancient Egypt. Skeletal tissue was of primary choice, as the skeletal material usually is quite resistant to postmortal autolysis. In this material, significant concentrations have been found of tetrahydrocannabinol, cocaine and nicotine [5, 6], as well as for caffeine [8]. The specificity of these measurements was evidenced by the selective presence of nicotine in skeletal material from skeletons from Middle Europe, while other drugs were absent [6]. In the present report, we describe the drug findings in an Egyptian mummy which had been unwrapped during the Munich Mummy Project [9]. These observations shed some significant light on historic medicine.

Materials and methods
Description of the mummy

The mummy presented in this report had been transferred to the Royal Bavarian Academy of Science in the 1820s by Dr. E W. Sieber, a private scientist from Prague (Czechia). According to 14C-dating analysis the mummy has been dated back to the 21st Egyptian dynasty (approx. 950 B.C.), although the exact source of the mummy has not been determined. A more detailed report on the mummy will be given elsewhere. During the unwrapping of the mummy which was performed due to the poor state of conservation (Fig. 1), the chest cavity revealed several small packages containing mummified organs which had been dried and then carefully wrapped in separate linen bindings. In four such packages small divine figurines were present. These represented the four sons of Horus which had also previously been found by SMITH and DAWSON [10] in lung, liver, stomach and intestine, so that an attribution of the packages to these organs could be performed (see Fig. 2). In addition, a macromorphological analysis of the organ remnants supported the aforementioned organ diagnoses, which were furthermore confirmed by histological analysis.
Click to expand...

I hope it's true. :) Coca is native to another continent.

To access the rest of the article you (or your university) have to be registered.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/r45155796wlq5176/
 
This is interesting forensics. I was going to scoff until I read that the coca was from internal tissues. Though I wonder if further analysis can show where the plant samples came from.
I also think it's important to point out that the body metabolizes toxic substances, and somtimes two different substance might be metabolized into something similiar. Chemists are going to have to go over this thoroughly to validate it.

Mormons and Thor Heyerdahl fans will probably rejoice.
 
So they also found traces of nicotine, caffeine and a cannabis extract? Any one of those would be interesting, all together it suggests something is wrong with their research.
 
Nanocyborgasm said:
Better investigate the discoverers of that mummy. At least one of them is a rabid coke head.
Click to expand...

I was going to suggest something similar (i.e. the factoid that the average US dollar has some cocaine residue on it, due to the drug trade). The fact that the article is for an analytical chemistry journal, is from tissue samples, AND involves mass spectrometry, I think skepticism will be directed to what metabolites they actually found that they based their conclusions on. IDK, but possibly there is a homolgous plant that might have similar chemistry as coca leaves too.

I'm not willing to pay $30 to read the article though.
 
appian said:
I hope it's true. :) Coca is native to another continent.
Click to expand...

Indeed. The cocaplant is South American. Opium however wouldn't surprise me, as the production and consumption of opiates was widespread throughout the ancient world.
 
Did anyone look at the date of that paper? It's 14 years old!

For the nicotine they offer possible explanations:

Interestingly, recent analyses on the
nicotine content of various vegetables yielded significant
amounts of nicotine in some plants [13] other than the to-
bacco plant, like aubergines, tomatoes and others. Fur-
thermore, it has recently been shown that in Southern
Africa a nicotine containing plant (Nicotiana Africana)
occurs [14], which may have been accessible to ancient
Egyptians. Thus, the use of these substances as therapeu-
tic drugs may have had a firm place in the old Egyptian
medicals' repertoire.
Click to expand...
 
Perhaps the space aliens brought the cocaine as a reward for their faithful subjects.
 
I am very sceptical. If they found a remnants of coca plants, it would certainly be VERY interesting, but this is IMO too weak. Aside from this, we have zero direct evidence that there was any contact between pre-Viking Old World and the American tribes/civilizations.

BTW, Coca is an Andean plant, right? So, how would the Egyptians get it? Even if they somehow crossed the Atlantic, they'd just meet some Maya natives, not the pre-Inca Andean civilizations.
 
Winner said:
.

BTW, Coca is an Andean plant, right? So, how would the Egyptians get it? Even if they somehow crossed the Atlantic, they'd just meet some Maya natives, not the pre-Inca Andean civilizations.
Click to expand...

AFAIK, you're right, though maybe cocaine-like substances might be in the same genus which has a broader range than the Andes.

Thor Heyerdahl had a pet theory from the Kon Tiki that the polynesian islands were colonized by South America before Asia reached there. Not a popular idea. So maybe a wild idea would be South America-> Asia-> Egypt.

Another possibility might be bird migrations carrying seeds between African and America.

Found a nice serious article on the discussion. Apparently the results are not contested.
http://www.thehallofmaat.com/modules.php?name=Articles&file=article&sid=45
Does confirm that nicotine is found in native S. African plants.
EDIT: And it confirms that the cocaine is found in some members of the same genus as the coca plant....in Africa.
Spoiler :
Cocaine is produced in quantity exclusively by Erythroxylum species native to South America [8 & 35 - 37]. However the genus Erythroxylon contains over 200 species distributed throughout the tropics including the Americas, Asia, South Africa, Madagascar and Australia. Some of these species produce cocaine although in much smaller amounts than in the South American species. [38 - 42] E. brownianum for instance is a species native to South Africa which produces 400ppm (parts per million – equivalent to 0.4mg/g) cocaine in its leaves. [40] E. monogynum, red cedar, is native to India and contains up to 400ppm cocaine in its roots. [40] The shoots and leaves from this plant are also edible. It is possible that the Ancient Egyptians could have had access to these species of plant or even that there were related species present in Egypt that produced cocaine in sufficient quantity to account for the amounts identified.
Click to expand...

Follow up journal article series in The Lancet (British medical journal):
Article title: Drugs in ancient populations.

Spoiler :
Moore N.

Lancet. 1993 May 1;341(8853):1157. No abstract available.

PMID: 8097845 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Related Articles
2: Drugs in ancient populations.

Brothwell D, Spigelman M.

Lancet. 1993 May 1;341(8853):1157. No abstract available.

PMID: 8097844 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Related Articles
3: Drugs in ancient populations.

Parsche F, Balabanova S, Pirsig W.

Lancet. 1993 Feb 20;341(8843):503. No abstract available.

PMID: 8094532 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Related Articles



So in all, move along folks.
 
Except that there are many documented Pre-Inca Andean civilizations. You might be joking, but please don't treat the Americas as though they don't have a history. :)
 
Me and my friend back in the day got totally hammered on Egyptian beer during this archaeological dig a few years ago. Eventually the subject of blow came up. Next thing we knew we were doin' lines off 3,000 year old bandages and mummy dust. We woke up the next morning entangled in embalmed bodies. We both swore we would never talk about it again.
 
North King said:
You might be joking, but please don't treat the Americas as though they don't have a history. :)
Click to expand...

Oh no I wasn't doing that at all:eek:, I was just making fun of conspiracy theorists that think the Americas were settled by the Egyptians first. One of those fools thinks the Grand Canyon was carved out by the Egyptians to make the pyramids:lol:. I'll post the link if I find it;)
 
Mad Man 2.0 said:
One of those fools thinks the Grand Canyon was carved out by the Egyptians to make the pyramids:lol:. I'll post the link if I find it;)
Click to expand...
I believe Heyerdahl may be on to something, but this is just priceless!:lol::lol::lol:
Please post the link if you can find it!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

I
Overview of Mechanics
3 4 5
Replies
95
Views
17K
sTAPler27
sTAPler27
Recursive
  • Locked
New BETA Version - 4.10 (June 25, 2024)
6 7 8
Replies
148
Views
29K
Recursive
Recursive
TerrisH
Out of the Portals, a Never Ending Story.
2 3 4
Replies
62
Views
12K
J.A.M.
J.A.M.
Immaculate
Exoplanet! II
3 4 5
Replies
83
Views
11K
Nuka-sama
N
EQandcivfanatic
Warlords of North America: 2020
2 3
Replies
58
Views
7K
LordArgon
LordArgon
Back
Top Bottom