Did Bronze-age Spaniards really take drugs 3000 years ago?

[객원 에디터 5기 / 이석현 기자] Recently, researchers have suggested that humans were using drugs 3000 years ago in Spain. They base this astounding claim on  evidence that the Spaniards were getting high on hallucinogenic drugs. Findings by the Scientific Reports showed signs of human activity at the Es Càrritx cave on the South-Western side of Menorca. These cave houses were found to contain approximately 200 grave sites and are believed to have served as ritual and funerary sites for 600 years. In turn, the researchers found that strong substances may have been used as a part of the rituals, explaining that “as early as the Palaeolithic period, humans came across the non-food properties of certain plants,” with the Menorca residents consuming several alkaloid-bearing plants during the Bronze Age.

Archaeologists have found even more evidence of drug use in other regions of Spain. For example, in the eastern region of Alicante, researchers found a pottery vessel that contained traces of opium—a powerful painkiller and sedative that has been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. Indeed, experts hypothesize that the use of opium may have been widespread in ancient Spain given that opium poppy seeds have been discovered at various sites throughout the country. Opium was likely used to treat pain, but may have also served a recreational function. 

These new discoveries in Spain are significant because they challenge the notion that the use of drugs is a modern invention and suggest that humans have  altered states of consciousness for many years prior and that these practices have long played  important functions in religious and spiritual traditions. 

Sources: The Guardian, BBC, NDTV, Wion News, Daily Mail