Researchers have uncovered the world's oldest marijuana stash in a remote part of China, according to an article in the Journal of
Experimental Botany.
About 789 grams of high-potency pot was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man approximately 2,700 years ago, the researchers
said.
The article states that extremely dry conditions and alkaline soil acted as preservatives, allowing the researchers to carefully analyze the pot.
"To our knowledge, these investigations provide the oldest documentation of cannabis as a pharmacologically active agent," wrote the paper's lead
author, American neurologist Dr. Ethan B. Russo.
Because of the good condition of the marijuana, the researchers were able to perform a battery of tests on it and were able to determine it contained
a relatively high level of THC, the main active ingredient in cannabis.
The stash was found in a leather basket and in a wooden bowl, according to the paper, and was likely meant to be used by the shaman in the afterlife.
There were no clues, however, as to whether the marijuana was to be smoked or ingested.
"This materially is unequivocally cannabis, and no material has previously had this degree of analysis possible," Russo told the Toronto Star.
