Researchers led by Gino Caspari of the University of Bern and the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology report in Science that a roughly 2,800-year-old elite burial in the Republic of Tyva, southern Siberia, contained about 1,000 cannabis seeds and chemical traces in preserved human hair consistent with cannabis use^1,2.

ScienceDaily, carrying a University of Bern account of the paper (doi:10.1126/science.aeg3800), says six seeds were radiocarbon-dated and, with other dating, place the deposit in the early eighth century B.C.¹. The Times of India, citing Phys.org, ScienceAlert and Discover Magazine, names the mound Tunnug 1, about 140 meters across, and links it to Arzhan culture at the start of the Scythian period².

The Times of India says the new analysis focused on six people buried in four wooden structures inside the kurgan². ScienceDaily says hair from the central chamber was tested with high-resolution mass spectrometry and showed cannabinol (CBN), which can form when tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) oxidizes, plus weaker signals matching the mass of THC¹.

Seeds alone do not prove intoxication, both accounts note, because cannabis was also used for fiber and oil and the seeds may resemble wild plants^1,2. ScienceDaily says the team could not show how much was used, how it entered the body, or how potent the plants were¹.

Caspari, quoted by ScienceDaily, said the hair traces and seeds from the same grave suggest cannabis was used for its intoxicating properties¹. The outlets describe the find as the oldest directly dated archaeological evidence of that use^1,2.

The burial was elaborate. ScienceDaily quotes Caspari saying the princely tomb included extensive horse sacrifices and, most likely, human sacrifices¹. It says earlier work found 18 horses on the mound and later digging several dozen more, plus scattered human bones¹. The Times of India likewise places the seeds among sacrificed horses and likely human sacrifice².

ScienceDaily says later Central Asian sites have cannabinoid residues on heated stones and vessels, clearer evidence of inhalation, which this tomb does not provide¹. The team is sequencing plant DNA from the well-preserved remains to study domestication and spread, Caspari said in that account¹.

WhatsNewPaper did not retrieve the full Science paper. Sample size for hair chemistry is described only as several samples. Not medical advice.