Posted on 10/11/2021 9:01:35 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Researchers discovered four charred seeds of a wild tobacco plant within the hearth contents, along with stone tools and duck bones left over from meals. Until now, the earliest documented use of tobacco came in the form of nicotine residue found inside a smoking pipe from Alabama dating to 3,300 years ago.
The researchers believe the nomadic hunter-gatherers at the Utah site may have smoked the tobacco or perhaps sucked wads of tobacco plant fiber for the stimulant qualities offered by the nicotine it contained.
After tobacco use originated among the New World's native peoples, it spread worldwide following the arrival of Europeans more than five centuries ago.
The seeds belonged to a wild variety of desert tobacco, named Nicotiana attenuata, that still grows in the area.
Artifacts there included small sharp stone cutting tools and spear tips made of a volcanic glass called obsidian, used for hunting large mammals. One spear tip bore the remains of blood proteins from a mammoth or mastodon - elephant relatives that later went extinct.
(Excerpt) Read more at ksl.com ...
https://kutv.com/news/local/12300-year-old-fire-pit-found-in-northern-utah-08-07-2016
https://farwestern.com/12300-year-old-hearth-in-utah/
https://mashable.com/article/12300-fire-pit-utah
https://apnews.com/3f392a0e67ae46e8a7a058bb9228d706/12,300-year-old-fire-pit-found-in-northern-Utah
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/05/world/utah-ice-age-human-footprints-discovery-scn/index.html
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