Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Non-tobacco plant identified in ancient pipe for first time
Mirage News [Australia] ^ | June 26, 2020 | Public Release

Posted on 06/28/2020 12:34:25 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

People in what is now Washington State were smoking Rhus glabra, a plant commonly known as smooth sumac, more than 1,400 years ago.

The discovery, made by a team of Washington State University researchers, marks the first-time scientists have identified residue from a non-tobacco plant in an archeological pipe.

Unearthed in central Washington, the Native American pipe also contained residue from N. quadrivalvis, a species of tobacco not currently grown in the region but that is thought to have been widely cultivated in the past. Until now, the use of specific smoking plant mixtures by ancient people in the American Northwest had only been speculated about.

"Smoking often played a religious or ceremonial role for Native American tribes and our research shows these specific plants were important to these communities in the past," said Korey Brownstein, a former WSU Ph.D. student now at the University of Chicago and lead author of a study on the research in the journal Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences. "We think the Rhus glabra may have been mixed with tobacco for its medicinal qualities and to improve the flavor of smoke."

The discovery was made possible by a new metabolomics-based analysis method that can detect thousands of plant compounds or metabolites in residue collected from pipes, bowls and other archeological artifacts. The compounds can then be used to identify which plants were smoked or consumed.

"Not only does it tell you, yes, you found the plant you’re interested in, but it also can tell you what else was being smoked," said David Gang, a professor in WSU’s Institute of Biological Chemistry and a co-author of the study. "It wouldn’t be hyperbole to say that this technology represents a new frontier in archaeo-chemistry."

(Excerpt) Read more at miragenews.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs; rhusglabra; smoothsumac; tobacco
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last
Maybe they smoked it to get high. Just a farfetched suggestion.

cdfvxbvcvbcvbcv

1 posted on 06/28/2020 12:34:25 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...

2 posted on 06/28/2020 12:34:42 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

The Ohio Mound Builders smoked a type of local marijuana. Supposedly it very potent.


3 posted on 06/28/2020 12:38:57 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

My Brothers used to smoke rabbit tobacco.

I have no idea why.


4 posted on 06/28/2020 12:39:42 PM PDT by yarddog ( For I am persuaded.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Maybe they used the Rhus glabra to stretch their tobacco supply which probably was a trade item in Washington state and not grown there.


5 posted on 06/28/2020 12:42:56 PM PDT by diatomite (Soros delenda est and his flying monkeys too.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: diatomite

That’s why they’re now called “ancient people”. Smoking sumac is idiotic.


6 posted on 06/28/2020 12:45:50 PM PDT by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

”Wait...what...?”

7 posted on 06/28/2020 12:45:52 PM PDT by gundog ( Hail to the Chief, bitches!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Wildwood Weed


8 posted on 06/28/2020 12:56:00 PM PDT by Bratch (If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: yarddog
I rodent know either.

9 posted on 06/28/2020 12:57:40 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

Not much has changed since the sixties in regards to those parks.


10 posted on 06/28/2020 1:04:12 PM PDT by Jumper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Smooth suman wont make you high but you can make a sort of lemonadelike drink from the berries.

In the east it is widely known that indians cut their tobacco with several kinds of sumac, bearberry, and other things like red osier dogwood... Kinnikinek.


11 posted on 06/28/2020 1:31:37 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

In college I was told that one of the caves in Europe contained evidence of cannabis use circa 30,000 BC.


12 posted on 06/28/2020 1:36:24 PM PDT by dsc (As for the foundations of the Catholic faith, this pontificate is an outrage to reason.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it!


13 posted on 06/28/2020 1:48:14 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (Joe Biden- "First thing I'd do is repeal those Trump tax cuts." (May 4th, 2019))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

That was no plant, that was Keith Richards’ grandfather


14 posted on 06/28/2020 1:48:54 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (Joe Biden- "First thing I'd do is repeal those Trump tax cuts." (May 4th, 2019))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: yarddog

Around these parts it’s called “life everlasting.”


15 posted on 06/28/2020 1:49:43 PM PDT by chalkfarmer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: a fool in paradise
"Glad to be here, glad to be anywhere." -- Keith Richards

16 posted on 06/28/2020 2:03:41 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

That would be quite a trick since cannabis species are native to the old world....central Asia... And was introduced to North America by colonists, despite assorted hippie sites claiming prehistoric Indians used it.... The confusion may be due to totally unrelated plants like dogbane being called ‘hemp’ because they were as good for making cordage as true hemp.

This is probably the source of the confusion —
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocynum_cannabinum

They did have intoxicating and hallucinogenic plants native to North America to use ...one is plain old Jimson weed. Before it showed up in the Mississippian [more recent than the Hopewell] archaeological record their art was tight and refined... After it turned up it became became disjointed and fixated on death symbols. I don’t think it was smoked, but might be wrong. I think it was taken orally. The Mississippians [the Natchez anyway] also used a kind of pill made of strong tobacco to render victims compliant before strangling them to accompany dead leaders into the afterlife.


17 posted on 06/28/2020 2:04:50 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: piasa
Making sumac 'lemonade' used to be in the Boy Scout manual, back when I was a BS. :^)

18 posted on 06/28/2020 2:05:17 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: piasa

Dogbane is mildly hallucinogenic but it can act on the heart and was used to treat many conditions and taken different ways..


19 posted on 06/28/2020 2:07:37 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

20 posted on 06/28/2020 2:18:22 PM PDT by Bullish (CNN is what happens when 8th graders run a cable network.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson