American Drugs In Egyptian Mummies

Colorado State Edu ^ | S A Wells

[blam]

We haven't covered this subject in a while.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[SteveMcKing]

"The possibility that the researchers made evaluations from of faked mummies of recent drug users is shown to be highly unlikely in almost all cases."

The possibility that they themselves have committed a fraud should be considered.

[LongElegantLegs]

for later

[RightWhale]

Also mystifying is the American copper mine in use for thousands of years, with bronze in use in Egypt and Troy and Greece. It seems the true story isn't being told. Even the three thousand year old site at North Salem still isn't widely accredited to Euros.

[somniferum]

I vaguely remember my Early Western World professor mentioning this. He also pointed out several ancient Egyption sculptures which seemd to depict people chewing coca.

Fascinating subject for sure.

[ndt]

"The recent findings of cocaine, nicotine, and hashishin Egyptian mummies by Balabanova et. al. have been criticized on grounds that: contamination of the mummies may have occurred"

Remind me not to get a ride home with the lab assistants.

[djf]

I suppose it is possible they had some new world plants. But an argument against it might be not what we think they had (in them), but what they DIDN'T.

Potatoes. Tomatoes. A half dozen gourd types.

If the Egyptians were wandering around South America picking coca leaves, seems alot more than that would find it's way back to Egypt.

[slaymakerpowertape]

Maybe they were just chewing something, not chewing coca. A good example of someone interpreting the past through the present.

[oyez]

How did Italians even exist before tomatoes were brought back from the new world?

[djf]

Don't know.

Spam?

[Jeff Chandler]

How did Italians even exist before tomatoes were brought back from the new world?

They didn't need tomatoes for spaghetti sauce because the spaghetti squash came from the New World too.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam.

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[SunkenCiv]

Actually, no it shouldn't. The research results are sound. The main reflex/reflux reaction to the results was that the cocaine and tobacco came from (unknown, unattested) modern Europeans knocking out the contents of their pipes inside the ancient coffins propped up in the parlor.

[Gorzaloon]

One explanation is that Egyptian priests used tropine-alkaloid-containing plants during the mummification process that subsequently underwent changes in the mummy to resemble the identified compounds.

Tomatoes, tomatillos, and potatoes are New World. But other plants in the Solanacae family existed in the Old World. Henbane, for example. And Hyoscyamine, its alkaloid, used to be used in Contac cold capsules as the sulfate.

IMG SRC="http://waynesword.palomar.edu/images/cocaine.gif"

Carboxylate Hyoscyamine, and it's Party Time.

[ndt]

"Additionally, the possibility of a native plant going extinct is unlikely."

Like Silphium?

[Gorzaloon]

http://www.druglibrary.org/Schaffer/Misc/mummies.htm

[djf]

Well the Egyptian Pharaohs and Priestly class had a rep just like the Romans did of keeping large zoos and gardens full of exotics.

Any expedition to the Americas would be highly rewarded for bringing back strange flora and fauna, I just think this would at least be a historical footnote.

I'm inclined to agree it might actually be the result of the mummification process itself.

We need a volunteer.

;-)

[fanfan]

The Harvest.......

[blam]

Ethnic Groups In Pre-Columbian America