Archaeologists have found cannabis seeds and chemical evidence of cannabinoid exposure in a 2,800-year-old burial mound in southern Siberia.
The find was made at Tunnug-1 an ancient burial mound in the Uyuk River valley in Russian republic of Tuva.
Clusters of cannabis seeds were found in 2024 close to and under human remains in the central burial area (early eighth century BC).
Researchers also analysed preserved human hair from the burials and found cannabinoid compounds which suggest some of them had been exposed to cannabis in their lifetimes.
The investigation was conducted by researchers from the Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences, working with specialists from Sweden, Switzerland and Germany.
Six cannabis seeds were subjected to radiocarbon dating, confirming their association with the early eighth-century BC burial context.
Tunnug-1 is situated within a marshy floodplain, where waterlogged conditions have preserved organic materials that would normally decompose over thousands of years.
These conditions allowed researchers to study both the physical remains of cannabis and chemical evidence preserved in human hair.
Using chromatography and mass spectrometry, scientists detected cannabinol (CBN), a compound that can form through the oxidation of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the principal psychoactive component of cannabis.
Chemical signals consistent with THC were also reported.
The findings indicate cannabis exposure, although researchers cannot determine how the compounds entered the body. Possible explanations include consumption or the inhalation of smoke.
The results also cannot establish the quantity consumed, how frequently cannabis was used or whether the individuals experienced psychoactive effects.
Cannabis has been exploited for thousands of years for several purposes, including its fibres and nutritious seeds, meaning the discovery of cannabis remains alone cannot demonstrate deliberate use as an intoxicant.
What makes Tunnug-1 particularly significant is the combination of botanical remains with chemical evidence of human exposure within the same archaeological complex.
The positioning of the seeds close to human remains has also raised the possibility that cannabis played a role in funerary ceremonies.
However, researchers cannot yet establish why the seeds were deposited in the graves or whether the cannabinoid exposure identified in the hair was directly connected with burial rituals.
Evidence of cannabis has previously been identified at ancient burial sites across Eurasia, including the famous Pazyryk burials in the Altai Mountains and sites in Xinjiang and the Pamir region.
The Tunnug-1 evidence appears to predate several of these better-known examples.
According to expedition leader Timur Sadykov of the Institute for the History of Material Culture, the significance of the discovery lies in the presence of both cannabis remains and cannabinoid traces within the same burial complex.
The findings do not establish southern Siberia as the origin of ritual cannabis use. Instead, the exceptional preservation conditions at Tunnug-1 may have preserved evidence that has disappeared from other archaeological contexts.
Cannabis has also been associated with ancient rituals outside Central Asia. Cannabinoid residues were found on an eighth-century BC altar at Tel Arad (present day Israel).
Whether such practices evolved independently or were spread by migration, trade and cultural exchange is not known.
The discovery at Tunnug-1 is rare evidence that cannabis was present in an early Iron Age funerary context in southern Siberia and chemical analysis shows that people buried there had also been exposed to cannabinoids.
More work may help to answer whether cannabis was part of funerary rituals or played a wider role among the communities living in Uyuk Valley three millennia ago.
Sources : Russian Academy of Sciences