(ORDO NEWS) — In a Bronze Age tomb, archaeologists have discovered a secret chamber in which the ancient inhabitants of the Balearic Islands hid human hair. The analysis showed that the owners of the hair were abusing drugs.
The moment of the beginning of the colonization of the Balearic Islands (Spain) is a complex issue.
It is known for certain that the two large islands (Majorca and Menorca) were permanently inhabited only from the second half of the 3rd millennium BC, during the Late Copper and Early Bronze Ages.
By the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, the Talaiot archaeological culture had developed there.
Its bearers built talaiots (hence the name) – megaliths of the Bronze Age, the functions of which are still not clear to scientists. Some believe that this is a religious building, others – that it is defensive.
But only on one island – on Menorca – is there a special type of megalithic structures. These are slanders, tombs shaped like overturned boats.
Sometimes slanders were built around a natural cave, which thus became a burial chamber. One of these tombs is the Es Càrritx cave, discovered intact by speleologists in 1995.
The first traces of human presence in this cave appear 3600 years ago. Judging by the finds, some rituals were performed there, but at first no one was buried.
The cave became a tomb after 200-250 years. For this purpose, people used Es Carritx until about 800 BC.
The burial space contained the bodies of 210 people. In the last 300 years of use, the tombs of the dead were buried with a rather unusual ritual.
Already a dead person, a strand of hair was dyed with some kind of vegetable dye, then it was cut off as close to the skin as possible and placed in a wooden box.
The box was sometimes decorated with carvings and left next to the body.
Although the cave was considered quite well explored, archaeologists recently stumbled upon a secret chamber in the tomb.
This is a man-made recess in the farthest part of the cave, covered from above with a stone slab.
In the cache, the researchers found several wooden boxes with dyed strands of hair, as well as a number of wooden and bronze items that could be part of the grave goods.
Scientists led by Elisa Guerra-Doce from the University of Valladolid (Spain) examined the found human hair using high-performance liquid chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry.
The authors of the study found scopolamine, ephedrine and atropine in all hair samples. These are plant alkaloids.
Atropine and scopolamine are found in plants in the nightshade family and can cause delusions, hallucinations, and altered sensory perception.
Ephedrine is a stimulant that is obtained from certain types of shrubs and pine trees. It can cause arousal, increase alertness and physical activity.
The researchers suggest that the presence of these alkaloids could be due to the consumption of certain plants, such as the medicinal mandrake (Mandragora autumnalis), white henbane (Hyoscyamus albus) or the common dope (Datura stramonium), as well as the brittle ephedra (Ephedra fragilis).
These finds are the first direct evidence of drug use in prehistoric Europe.
All previous suggestions about such practices were based on circumstantial evidence, such as traces of opium on Bronze Age vessels, finds of remains of narcotic plants in ritual contexts or in rock art.
Judging by the length of their hair, their owners used these drugs constantly, for at least a year before their death, and even much longer.
The authors of the work suggest that the hallucinogens were used as part of ritual activities, and the people whose hair they examined were priests – that is, they used it on an official basis.
This, according to scientists, explains the fact that only a few containers with hair were taken from their usual place (next to the body of the owner) and hidden in a cache.
Perhaps they belonged to some special people – famous priests or rulers.
Around 800 BC, the life of the population of the Balearic Islands changed quite dramatically.
Archaeologists note the demographic growth, as well as the penetration of carriers of other cultures into the islands – for example, the Phoenicians.
The authors of the work suggest that in such a situation, some people who did not want to give up ancient traditions hid a collection of ritual objects belonging to certain members of the community, in the hope that in the future it would be possible to restore the former social order.
And the best place to ensure the safety of the collection was found in the depths of the burial place of the ancestors.
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