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The occurence of cocaine in Egyptian mummies: new research provides strong evidence for a trans-Atlantic dispersal of humans.
Abstract:

One of the unsolved problems of modern science is whether the pre-Columbian peoples of the New World developed completely independently of cultural influences from the Old World or if there was a trans-oceanic contact? A number of scientists agree that there are many – and often remarkable – similarities between the cultures of pre-Columbian America and those of the Mediterranean world.

Nevertheless, there is no agreement, as yet, on how cultural diffusion can be differentiated from independent invention. Scientific analysis shows that scholarly positions are often strongly pre-formed from paradigms (scientific based assumptions), which tend to hinder consideration of solid scientific data offered by geo-biology and its trans-disciplinary examination
of the subject under investigation here.

An unambiguous answer to the question, what historical processes led to the emergence of the ancient American agriculture, hasn‟t been given. However, the archaeological discovery of crops with clear trans-oceanic origin, in addition to advances in molecular biology, increasingly support the hypothesis that humans from the distant past influenced each other across the oceans at a much earlier stage. The vegetation and zoo-geography indicate, by numerous examples that some species could only have spread through perhaps unintentional (passive) human transmission

Source:Görlitz, D. (2016). The occurence of cocaine in Egyptian mummies: new research provides strong evidence for a trans-Atlantic dispersal of humans.
 

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  • Görlitz, Dominique. The occurence of cocaine in Egyptian mummies new research provides strong ...pdf
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A team of biomedical and medicinal specialists from the University of Milan, working with a colleague from Foundation IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico di Milano, has found evidence of cocaine use by at least two people as far back as the 17th century in Europe.

Forensic toxicology backdates the use of coca plant (Erythroxylum spp.) in Europe to the early 1600s,
Abstract:

Cocaine hydrochloride salts are one of the most commonly used drugs of our days, yet there is very little hard evidence regarding when people started consuming such an extensively popular drug in Europe. In this paper, we report the exceptional finding of Erythroxylum spp. in human remains dated to the 1600’s in Milan, Italy.

Toxicological analyses were performed on preserved human brains revealing the first evidence of Erythroxylum spp. use in Europe before the 19th century, backdating our understanding of the presence of the plant by almost two centuries. Specifically, the alkaloid of cocaine was detected in two separate biological samples and can be associated to Erythroxylum spp. consumption.

Given that the plant was not listed inside the detailed hospital pharmacopeia, it may not have been given as a medicinal remedy but may have been used for other purposes. This study demonstrates the importance and the potential of the application of toxicological analyses to archaeological contexts and allows to backdate the arrival of the Erythroxylum spp. in Europe by almost two
hundred years.​

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Source: Gaia Giordano, Mirko Mattia, Lucie Biehler‐Gomez, Michele Boracchi, Alessandro Porro, Francesco Sardanelli, Fabrizio Slavazzi, Paolo Maria Galimberti, Domenico Di Candia, Cristina Cattaneo, Forensic toxicology backdates the use of coca plant (Erythroxylum spp.) in Europe to the early 1600s, Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 170, 2024, 106040
 

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  • Gaia Giordano, Mirko Mattia, Lucie Biehler‐Gomez, Michele Boracchi, Alessandro Porro, Francesc...pdf
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The Prehistory of Psychoactive Drug Use.
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Source:Hagen, Edward H., and Shannon Tushingham. "The prehistory of psychoactive drug use." Handbook of cognitive archaeology. Routledge, 2019. 471-498.
 

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  • Hagen, Edward H., and Shannon Tushingham. The prehistory of psychoactive drug use. Handbook of...pdf
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