Could Shakespeare's Bones Tell Us if He Smoked Pot?

LiveScience ^ | Article: C6/27/2011 | Stephanie Pappas

[nickcarraway]

A South African anthropologist has asked permission to open the graves of William Shakespeare and his family to determine, among other things, what killed the Bard and whether his poems and plays may have been composed under the influence of marijuana.

But while Shakespeare's skeleton could reveal clues about his health and death, the question of the man's drug use depends on the presence of hair, fingernails or toenails in the grave, said Francis Thackeray, the director of the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, who floated the proposal to the Church of England.

Thackeray conducted a study in 2001, which found evidence of marijuana residueon pipe fragments found in Shakespeare's garden. Cannabis was grown in England at the time and was used to make textiles and rope. Some Shakespearian allusions, including a mention of a "noted weed" in Sonnet 76, spurred Thackeray's inquiry into whether Shakespeare may have used the mind-altering drug for inspiration.

"If there is any hair, if there is any keratin from the fingernails or toenails, then we will be in a position to undertake chemical analysis on extremely small samples for marijuana," Thackeray told LiveScience.

A poet's curse

Whether or not Shakespeare smoked pot, he certainly didn't want his remains disrupted. The stone covering the poet's grave carries an engraved curse for any would-be intruders.

"Blessed be the man that spares these stones," the engraving reads, "And cursed be he who moves my bones." [8 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries]

Thackeray said he has a way around the Bard's curse.

"We don't want to move any of the bones," he said.

[nickcarraway]

What won't they accuse him of?

[ken21]

unbelievable.

[nickcarraway]

Ping

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Bones would not tell as much as voter rolls showing Shakespeare to be a registered Libertarian Party voter.

[Vaquero]

Out damn spot.....

oh...its a hallucination....never mind.

[Vaquero]

“You can’t appreciate Shakespeare until you’ve read him in the original Klingon. ...”

General Chang

[mikrofon]

“Would he were wasted, marrow, bones and all” ~King Henry VI, part III: III, ii.

[Professional Engineer]

The guy has been dead long enough for the statute of limitations to have expires methinks.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Because creativity can only be the product of recreational-drug abuse.

</sarcasm>

[nickcarraway]

I think they are trying to claim the pot was responsible for his genius.

[cripplecreek]

What kind of person really feels a need to know?

[LadyDoc]

the marijuana plant /hemp plant often was used in herbal medicine, so that wouldn’t prove anything.

And equating the drug culture in the US, i.e. taking drugs for pleasure to get high, was not the same as using a herbal medicine.

I suspect Shakespeare used beer and wine to get drunk...

[MrEdd]

Aberrant perversions produce parallel behaviors.
Homosexuals desire to claim the famous people in history were homosexual. Druggies desire to show the great achievers of the past were druggies.

[SunkenCiv]

· GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach · · join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·
	Antiquity Journal  & archive  Archaeologica  Archaeology  Archaeology Channel  BAR  Bronze Age Forum  Discovery  Dogpile  Eurekalert  Google  LiveScience  Mirabilis.ca  Nat Geographic  PhysOrg  Science Daily  Science News  Texas AM  Yahoo  Excerpt, or Link only?	Thanks nickcarraway. Neither of either; I remit both twain. I see the trick on't: here was a consent, Knowing aforehand of our merriment, To dash it like a Christmas comedy: Some carry-tale, some please-man, some slight zany, Some mumble-news, some trencher-knight, some Dick, That smiles his cheek in years and knows the trick To make my lady laugh when she's disposed, Told our intents before; which once disclosed, The ladies did change favours: and then we, Following the signs, woo'd but the sign of she. Nah, not high. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
· History topic · history keyword · archaeology keyword · paleontology keyword · · Science topic · science keyword · Books/Literature topic · pages keyword ·

[nickcarraway]

OLIVIA:What's a drunken man like, fool? CLOWN: Like a drowned man, a fool, and a madman: one draught above heat makes him a fool, the second mads him, and a third drowns him.
TN1.5.127-30

[SunkenCiv]

Of course, when they dig him up, and examine his DNA, they’ll find out the body is Francis Bacon’s.

[yarddog]

GOOD FREND FOR JESUS SAKE FORBEARE TO
DIGG THE DUST ENCLOASED HEARE.
BLEST BE YE MAN YT SPARES THES STONES AND
CURST BE HE YT MOVES MY BONES

Shakespeare’s epitaph.

[skr]

They are desperate to matter.

[Bigg Red]

Maybe the residue found on the pipe fragments came from this anthropologist’s hands.

[mnehring]

Paultards desperate for a celebrity endorsement?