The World’s Oldest Marijuana

According to a recent report, researchers have discovered almost two pounds of marijuana in the Gobi Desert, an area located in southern Mongolia and the northern Inner Mongolia region of China. According to the researchers, the marijuana stash is about 2,700 years old. The following is an excerpt from the news report:

Nearly two pounds of still-green plant material found in a 2,700-year-old grave in the Gobi Desert has just been identified as the world's oldest marijuana stash, according to a paper in the latest issue of the Journal of Experimental Botany.

A barrage of tests proves the marijuana possessed potent psychoactive properties and casts doubt on the theory that the ancients only grew the plant for hemp in order to make clothing, rope and other objects.

They apparently were getting high too.

According to the report, the marijuana was found in the grave of a blue-eyed Caucasian man. It is possible that the man was a shaman but it is unknown whether the marijuana was grown for spiritual or medical purposes.

Read the news release by clicking here.

I do not approve the use of marijuana or any illicit drug. What caught my attention in this story was the fact that the man who probably used the marijuana was a shaman. In many societies people consulted shamans in order to communicate with the spirit world.

Shamans were consulted to deal with sickness caused by evil spirits. Shamans were also spiritual healers. Most shamans employed trance inducing techniques to generate a visionary ecstasy. I am sure that this blue-eyed Caucasian shaman used marijuana to induce an ecstasy and thus be able to consult the spirits.


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Cannabis, Marijuana, Shaman