How ancient teeth are changing what we know about early drug use

A study of the teeth of ancient hunter-gatherers shows they sucked on betel nuts, evidence that humans used mind-altering drugs much earlier than previously thought, scientists say.

The Griffith University study, led by Professor Adam Brumm, examined teeth from two skeletons found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

One dated from 16,000 to 25,000 years ago and the other from 6,300 to 7,600 years ago.

Their teeth showed unusual deep and rounded grooves that archaeologists established were caused by previously unknown drug-use behaviour — the habitual sucking of betel nuts, possibly for pain relief.

The betel or areca nut is a palm seed from Southeast Asia and is the fourth most commonly used psychoactive substance in the world, behind alcohol, caffeine and nicotine.

It is mixed with slaked lime powder and chewed to boost its psychoactive properties and create a powerful stimulant.

But adding lime came after the time of the ancient hunter-gatherers, with Brumm saying it’s thought they sucked betel nuts for pain relief.

“We think this was a longstanding cultural tradition of drug use that predated the invention of betel nut chewing as we know it today,” he told the Australian Associated Press.

“We think this is how humans discovered the mind-altering properties of this particular type of drug.”

It was the earliest evidence of the deliberate consumption of a psychoactive plant product but also the earliest evidence of habitual drug use, Brumm said.

Continuous betel-nut sucking wore down the teeth of ancient users, leading to cavities and intense pain, prompting more use of the nut for pain relief in an addictive cycle, he said.

“We can’t exclude that they were getting a psychoactive hit but … we don’t think they were cavemen getting high on sucking betel nut.”

Over time, ancient people discovered they could make a more potent stimulant if they chewed betel nut mixed with slaked lime, inducing mild euphoria and heightened alertness.

It had been thought the world’s first traditions of psychoactive drug use arose after the Neolithic advent of farming, beginning with fermented barley beer about 13,000 years ago in what is now Israel.

The study’s findings suggest habitual psychoactive substance use, and its associated health costs, were already present among hunter-gatherers tens of thousands of years before agriculture, Brumm said.

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