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Jan. 12th, 2014 12:42 pmResearchers find oldest-ever stash of marijuana
Researchers say they have located the world's oldest stash of marijuana, in a tomb in a remote part of China.
The cache of cannabis is about 2,700 years old and was clearly "cultivated for psychoactive purposes," rather than as fibre for clothing or as food, says a research paper in the Journal of Experimental Botany.
The 789 grams of dried cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture, near Turpan in northwestern China.
The extremely dry conditions and alkaline soil acted as preservatives, allowing a team of scientists to carefully analyze the stash, which still looked green though it had lost its distinctive odour.
Remnants of cannabis have been found in ancient Egypt and other sites, and the substance has been referred to by authors such as the Greek historian Herodotus. But the tomb stash is the oldest so far that could be thoroughly tested for its properties.
The marijuana was found to have a relatively high content of THC, the main active ingredient in cannabis, but the sample was too old to determine a precise percentage.
The large cache was contained in a leather basket and in a wooden bowl, and was likely meant to be used by the shaman in the afterlife.
- - -
The 15 Most Disturbing Nursery Rhymes You've Never Heard
Little Willie, dressed in sashes
Fell in the fire and burned to ashes
After a while, the room grew chilly,
But no one wanted to poke up Willie
- - -
More on Tut's Unusual Burial - and ensuing controversy
According to a study carried out by professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo (AUC) Salima Ikram, Tutankhamun was unusually embalmed by priests of the god Amun in an attempt to quash the religious revolution carried out by his father and predecessor the monotheistic king Akhnaten.
The latter had called for the worship of only one deity, the sun god Aten, and the abandonment of the ancient Egyptians’ other gods.
When Akhnaten’s son Tutankhamun came to the throne, he returned Egypt to its traditional religion of worshipping a diverse set of deities at the top of which was the god Amun.
To ensure that this conversion continued after Tutankhamun’s death and to abort any further religious revolution, Ikram suggests in her paper that the priests mummified Tutankhamun’s corpse in an unusual way to make him appear as Osiris, the god of the afterlife and the land of Egypt.
“Tutankhamun’s mummification is unusual in the amount of resin used, the number of times he had resin introduced into his cranium, the absence of a heart scarab, and the upright genitalia,” Ikram told Al-Ahram Weekly.
She says in her paper that Tutankhamun was mummified with an erect penis and his mummy was buried without the heart scarab that usually replaced the real heart, which, according to ancient Egyptian mummification rituals, was removed and put in canopic jars along with the stomach, liver and kidneys.
The study suggests that Tutankhamun’s mummy was covered with a thick layer of black mummification liquid that darkened the colour of the mummy to the same colour of Osiris.
“The erect penis evokes Osiris at his most powerfully regenerative moment and is a feature of ‘corn-mummies,’ the quintessential symbols of rebirth and resurrection,” Ikram told the LiveScience Website, confirming that Tutankhamun’s mummy is the only mummy known to be treated in this way. She told the Weekly that it was unusual that the penis was kept erect in the case of Tutankhamun.
more here
- - -
Catalhoyuk mural may depict ancient volcanic eruption
A mural excavated at the Neolithic Çatalhöyük site (Central Anatolia, Turkey) dating to 6600 BCE has been interpreted as a depiction of an explosive summit eruption of the Hasan Dağı twin-peaks volcano with a birds-eye view of a town plan in the foreground.
- - -
Ancient Greeks Used Portable Grills at Their Picnics
The ancient Mycenaeans have a reputation as palace-builders and warriors, but they were also quite sophisticated cooks. More than 3,000 years ago, they used portable grill pits to make souvlaki and non-stick pans to make bread, new cooking experiments suggest.
The Mycenaean civilization, which was the backdrop for Homer's "Odyssey" and "Iliad," thrived in Greece during the late Bronze Age from around 1700 B.C. until the society mysteriously collapsed around 1200 B.C. The Mycenaeans left behind amazing palaces and gold-littered tombs at sites like Pylos and Mycenae, but in these places, archaeologists also have found less glamorous artifacts, such as souvlaki trays and griddles made from gritty clays.
- - -
Peruvian Jungle - Chachapoyas mummies at Karajia
Slide Show - The archaeological treasures of Amazonas Peru
The Chachapoyas, (in Quechua “The Warriors of the Clouds”), were an Andean people living in the cloud forests of the Amazonas region of present-day Peru in about 9th-15th centuries AD. The first firm evidence of the existence of “cloud people” dates back to around 600 AD which is 600 years ahead of the appearance of the Inca Empire. Chachapoya are first known peoples to have occupied the forested mountains between the rivers Marañón and Huallaga in Peru at an altitude of 3000 meters (9,840 ft) above sea level.
The Chachapoyas' territory covered 30 thousand sq. km. This culture created numerous stone settlements, mausoleums and sarcophagi, fragments of which survived until recent times. In 1470 when the Incas attacked the lands, the Chachapoyas left the territory trying to retain their independence.
source
Researchers say they have located the world's oldest stash of marijuana, in a tomb in a remote part of China.
The cache of cannabis is about 2,700 years old and was clearly "cultivated for psychoactive purposes," rather than as fibre for clothing or as food, says a research paper in the Journal of Experimental Botany.
The 789 grams of dried cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture, near Turpan in northwestern China.
The extremely dry conditions and alkaline soil acted as preservatives, allowing a team of scientists to carefully analyze the stash, which still looked green though it had lost its distinctive odour.
Remnants of cannabis have been found in ancient Egypt and other sites, and the substance has been referred to by authors such as the Greek historian Herodotus. But the tomb stash is the oldest so far that could be thoroughly tested for its properties.
The marijuana was found to have a relatively high content of THC, the main active ingredient in cannabis, but the sample was too old to determine a precise percentage.
The large cache was contained in a leather basket and in a wooden bowl, and was likely meant to be used by the shaman in the afterlife.
- - -
The 15 Most Disturbing Nursery Rhymes You've Never Heard
Little Willie, dressed in sashes
Fell in the fire and burned to ashes
After a while, the room grew chilly,
But no one wanted to poke up Willie
- - -
More on Tut's Unusual Burial - and ensuing controversy
According to a study carried out by professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo (AUC) Salima Ikram, Tutankhamun was unusually embalmed by priests of the god Amun in an attempt to quash the religious revolution carried out by his father and predecessor the monotheistic king Akhnaten.
The latter had called for the worship of only one deity, the sun god Aten, and the abandonment of the ancient Egyptians’ other gods.
When Akhnaten’s son Tutankhamun came to the throne, he returned Egypt to its traditional religion of worshipping a diverse set of deities at the top of which was the god Amun.
To ensure that this conversion continued after Tutankhamun’s death and to abort any further religious revolution, Ikram suggests in her paper that the priests mummified Tutankhamun’s corpse in an unusual way to make him appear as Osiris, the god of the afterlife and the land of Egypt.
“Tutankhamun’s mummification is unusual in the amount of resin used, the number of times he had resin introduced into his cranium, the absence of a heart scarab, and the upright genitalia,” Ikram told Al-Ahram Weekly.
She says in her paper that Tutankhamun was mummified with an erect penis and his mummy was buried without the heart scarab that usually replaced the real heart, which, according to ancient Egyptian mummification rituals, was removed and put in canopic jars along with the stomach, liver and kidneys.
The study suggests that Tutankhamun’s mummy was covered with a thick layer of black mummification liquid that darkened the colour of the mummy to the same colour of Osiris.
“The erect penis evokes Osiris at his most powerfully regenerative moment and is a feature of ‘corn-mummies,’ the quintessential symbols of rebirth and resurrection,” Ikram told the LiveScience Website, confirming that Tutankhamun’s mummy is the only mummy known to be treated in this way. She told the Weekly that it was unusual that the penis was kept erect in the case of Tutankhamun.
more here
- - -
Catalhoyuk mural may depict ancient volcanic eruption
A mural excavated at the Neolithic Çatalhöyük site (Central Anatolia, Turkey) dating to 6600 BCE has been interpreted as a depiction of an explosive summit eruption of the Hasan Dağı twin-peaks volcano with a birds-eye view of a town plan in the foreground.
- - -
Ancient Greeks Used Portable Grills at Their Picnics
The ancient Mycenaeans have a reputation as palace-builders and warriors, but they were also quite sophisticated cooks. More than 3,000 years ago, they used portable grill pits to make souvlaki and non-stick pans to make bread, new cooking experiments suggest.
The Mycenaean civilization, which was the backdrop for Homer's "Odyssey" and "Iliad," thrived in Greece during the late Bronze Age from around 1700 B.C. until the society mysteriously collapsed around 1200 B.C. The Mycenaeans left behind amazing palaces and gold-littered tombs at sites like Pylos and Mycenae, but in these places, archaeologists also have found less glamorous artifacts, such as souvlaki trays and griddles made from gritty clays.
- - -
Peruvian Jungle - Chachapoyas mummies at Karajia
Slide Show - The archaeological treasures of Amazonas Peru
The Chachapoyas, (in Quechua “The Warriors of the Clouds”), were an Andean people living in the cloud forests of the Amazonas region of present-day Peru in about 9th-15th centuries AD. The first firm evidence of the existence of “cloud people” dates back to around 600 AD which is 600 years ahead of the appearance of the Inca Empire. Chachapoya are first known peoples to have occupied the forested mountains between the rivers Marañón and Huallaga in Peru at an altitude of 3000 meters (9,840 ft) above sea level.
The Chachapoyas' territory covered 30 thousand sq. km. This culture created numerous stone settlements, mausoleums and sarcophagi, fragments of which survived until recent times. In 1470 when the Incas attacked the lands, the Chachapoyas left the territory trying to retain their independence.
source
