It seems improbable, but there are valid suspicions that long before coffeeshops sprouted up in every corner of the Netherlands, the inhabitants of the Netherlands were looking for something in nature that would offer them similar experiences. But let’s take things from the beginning.
It all started the 2011, when the archaeologists of the Netherlands were faced with a great find. Very close to the city of Utrecht, in a Roman-era farmhouse, they discovered an ancient pit filled with tens of thousands of animal bones. The difficult job of sorting them fell to Martijn van Haasteren, an archaeozoologist at the Netherlands Heritage Agency, who reverently bowed to the task.
Some time later, then, while carrying out the demanding task of cataloging them, Mr. van Haasteren discovered hundreds of black nuggets the size of poppy seeds inside one of the bones. He was surprised. He couldn’t figure out what exactly it was.
Soon, after investigations, it turned out that it was hyssop seedsa very poisonous member of the nightshade family that can be medicinal or hallucinogenic – depending on the dose. The bone, sealed with tar, had kept the seeds safe for approx 1,900 years.
“His writings Pliny of the Elder and others testify that the seeds and leaves of the hyoscyamo have had a medicinal use since then”.
The researchers determined that the bones were deposited in the pit at some point between 70 and 100 AD. – a time when the Low Countries formed the northern frontier of the Roman Empire. In addition, they noticed that parts of the socket of the bone were particularly smooth, suggesting that it had been used frequently.
This very special discovery provides the first clear evidence that the indigenous people living in the remote Roman province in question were aware of the powerful properties of hyoscyamus. At least that’s what Maaike Groot, an archaeozoologist at the Free University of Berlin and author of a scientific article published last month describing the find, told the New York Times with confidence after the discovery.
It seems, therefore, that its properties hyoskyamou were already known in Rome at that time. In fact, his writings Pliny of the Elder and others testify that its seeds and leaves have been used medicinally since then. However, they knew that excessive use had negative consequences for the human body, speaking of brain alterations.
“Hyoskyams have been found at various archaeological sites in the Netherlands dating back to the Neolithic period.”
The plant was mainly used in Roman times in the form of an ointment to relieve pain, although some sources also mention the smoking of its seeds or the addition of its leaves to wine. It seems that its psychedelic effects came to the fore during the Middle Ages. Whether the knowledge of its special properties was carried by the Romans to the farthest corners of the empire or whether this knowledge was developed by local communities remains a difficult question even for scholars.
Hyoscyams have been found in various archaeological sites in the Netherlands dating from neolithic period. But because it is a wild plant that grows easily even near settlements, experts have not been able to determine if it was used by the locals or if it was just part of the environment.
In 2008, for example, archaeologists found a Roman-era ceramic vessel in Vorburg that had been filled with soil over time. Inside the soil they found a hyacinth seed along with 26 hazelnuts and one grain each of corn, barley, wheat and various other seeds.
“The overall composition of the seeds seemed to indicate the intentional use of hyoscyam as some kind of drug or hallucinogen,” said Jasper de Bruin, curator of the collection “The Low Countries in Roman Times” at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, when interviewed by the New York Times.
“The bone jar shows, for the first time in Western Europe, the deliberate collection of its seeds poisonous hyoscyamus during the Roman period”.
However, according to Laura Kooistra, a retired archaeobotanist and co-author of the latest research studies, a single seed embedded in the soil does not provide the degree of certainty needed to draw conclusions about whether hyoscyamus was used by humans.
The bone pot, on the other hand, provides this level of evidence. “It shows, for the first time in Western Europe, the deliberate collection of its seeds poisonous hyoscyamus during the Roman period,” said Otto Brinkkemper, an archaeobotanist at the Netherlands Heritage Agency.
Experts can only speculate, however, what purpose the seeds served. The authors of the new study refer to hyoscyamo as a medicinal plant. But it is also possible that people actively seeking experiences used psychoactive substances for spiritual, therapeutic or recreational purposes.
However, according to the researchers, this finding allows us a rare glimpse into a possible way in which they navigated and managed the anxieties, stress, hopes and expectations of everyday life, while they are sure that “Whoever collected all these seeds in this improvised container he did it deliberately and skillfully – he knew what he was doing.’
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