Hallucinogenic seeds existed long before Amsterdam coffee shops

Black henbane has been found at archaeological sites in the Netherlands dating back to the Neolithic period. But because it is a wild plant that grows easily in the disturbed soil near settlements, experts have not been able to determine whether the plant was used by humans or was just part of the environment.

For example, in 2008, archaeologists found one Ceramic cup from Roman times in Voorburg that over time became full of dirt. In the ground they found a seed of black henbane, along with 26 hazelnuts and a single grain of corn, barley, wheat and various other seeds. “The overall composition of the seeds seemed to indicate the intentional use of black henbane as some kind of medicine or hallucinogen,” says Jasper de Bruin, the curator of the “Netherlands in Roman timescollection of the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, which was not involved in the new research.

However, according to Laura Kooistra, a retired archaeobotanist and co-author of the latest findings, a single seed embedded in the soil does not provide the level of certainty needed to draw conclusions about whether black henbane has been used by humans. “One swallow doesn’t make a summer,” she said.

The bot container, on the other hand, does provide that level of evidence. “It shows for the first time in Western Europe the deliberate collection of seeds of the poisonous black henbane during Roman times,” says Otto Brinkkemper, archaeobotanist at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, who was not involved in the research. .

However, experts can only guess what purpose the seeds might have served.

The authors of the new study call black henbane a medicinal plant, says Astrid Van Oyen, an archaeologist at Radboud University in Nijmegen, who was not involved in the research. But it’s also possible that black henbane was used by people who were “actively seeking psychoactive experiences” for spiritual, therapeutic or recreational purposes, she said.

“This finding gives us a rare glimpse into a possible way in which humans navigated and mediated the fears, tensions, hopes and aspirations of everyday life,” said Dr. Van Oyen. “Whoever collected all these seeds in this makeshift container did so deliberately and skillfully – he knew what he was doing.”