The earliest evidence of marijuana use has been identified in a 2,800-year-old burial mound in southern Siberia, where plant remains and chemical traces in human hair point to cannabis being used during funerary rites that may have included human sacrifice.
Researchers detailed the find in a study published Thursday, Nov. 5, in the journal Science. The team examined a “royal mound” at the Tunnug archaeological site in the Uyuk Valley, uncovering four timber structures containing multiple log coffins.
Earliest evidence of marijuana use in funerary rites
Above these wooden chambers lay the skeletons of horses arranged as part of a spectral cavalcade, a Scythian funerary practice involving horse and, likely, human sacrifices. Inside the burial complex, archaeologists found piles of tiny seeds from Cannabis ruderalis, a wild cannabis species.
Cannabis is thought to have originated in Asia and was cultivated millennia ago for rope, textiles and, around 6,000 years ago, as an oilseed crop. When humans first exploited its psychoactive effects is less certain.
The Greek historian Herodotus wrote in the fifth century B.C. that Scythian nomads inhaled fumes from burning hemp seeds, and earlier discoveries in a Chinese cemetery dated to about 500 B.C. had indicated cannabis use. The new analysis moves the timeline back by roughly three centuries.
Science is published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which oversees peer review of research papers across scientific disciplines.
At the Tunnug mound, investigators recovered more than 1,000 intact cannabis seeds and about 500 fragments. Radiocarbon dating placed them between 800 and 760 B.C.
The team also analyzed several human hair samples from the grave, identifying chemical signatures consistent with cannabinol and THC, psychoactive compounds found in cannabis. The tests did not reveal the quantity consumed.
“The molecular traces in the hair and the cannabis seeds come from the same grave and suggest that cannabis was used for its intoxicating properties,” said Gino Caspari, the study’s lead author and an archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Jena, Germany.
The Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology is part of the broader Max Planck Society, a German research organization that supports fundamental science.
Given the context of the burial, the authors propose a somber function. Caspari noted that the princely tomb was accompanied by extensive horse sacrifices and most likely human sacrifices as well.
The team wrote that in such rituals, cannabis could have been used to calm individuals destined to be included in the ceremonies. According to the researchers, the findings confirm cannabis use in funerary practices in Central Asia and extend the record to 2,800 years ago.
This work adds to a growing body of research reshaping what is known about deep prehistory, alongside studies such as those reporting ancient dinosaur blood traces in a 115-million-year-old fossil. Further work is underway on the plant material.
“We have already begun sequencing some of the plant samples,” Caspari said. “This will help us learn more about the history of the domestication and spread of the crop soon.”
Caspari, G., Sadykov, T., Formicheva, D., Blochin, J., Armbruster, D., Happel, O., Ryabogina, N., Boxleitner, K., Spengler, R. (2026). Direct evidence for psychoactive cannabis use 2800 years ago. Science. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aeg3800