Long before Ethiopian monks in the 9th century discovered that a coffee tree -fruit helped them stay awake during an evening prayer (according to Legendanyway), communities in Southeast Asia chewed betel nuts – the seeds of the Areca Palm and Stimulating This increases the attention, energy, euphoria and relaxation of people – since ancient times. But new research indicates that Betela Nut was practiced even longer.
Studying an ancient dental plaque of Bronze Age individuals in Thailand, an international team of researchers suggest that people consume the stimulant 4000 years ago. This new approach opens the way to future research on ancient behaviors in the absence of traditional archaeological evidence.
“We have identified plant derivatives in a dental count of 4,000-year-old burial at Nong Ratchaat, Thailand,” Piyawit Moonkham, anthropological archaeologist at Chiang Mai University and the first author of the Study published yesterday in Frontiers in Media Archeology, said in Statement. A dental calculation, also called Tartaris a tempered dental plaque. “This is the earliest direct biomolecular evidence of Betel nut use in Southeast Asia.”
Moonkham and colleagues analyzed 36 dental counting samples from six individuals from Nong Ratchaw, a Bronze Age archaeological site in central Thailand. The team also produced their own Betel -liquid samples to explore the interactions between ingredients and ensure that their analysis could accurately detect the psychoactive compositions.
“We used dried betel nut, pink limestone paste, piper -betel sheets, and sometimes Senegalian Catechu shell and tobacco. “Supply materials and experimentally ‘chewing’ betel nuts to create authentic quid -samples were both a fun and interesting process.” Betel quid There is a chewing mixture consisting of the area nut and other ingredients, such as those listed above. It is worth mentioning that heavy use of betel nuts can eventually lead to healthy risks such as oral cancers and heart disease.
The team’s analysis revealed traces of Arecolino and Arecaidine in three of the specimens, all of the same individual – organic compounds present in betel nuts as well as coffee, tea and tobacco, which can have a major impact on human physiology. In other words, Bethel mating probably existed for at least 4,000 years.
“In essence, we have developed a way to make the invisible – rewriting behaviors and practices that were lost to 4,000 years,” said Shannon Tushingham, senior author of the study and associate curator of anthropology at the California Academy of Sciences. In addition, “the presence of betel nut compositions in dental calculation suggests repetitive consumption, as these remains enter mineralized plaque layers over time by regular exposure.”
While consistent betel -sucking chewing usually stains teeth, the researchers did not identify such staining. They suggest that this could be due to different consumer methods, ancient teeth cleaning practices, or processes that have prevented the spots lasting over 4,000 years. They also did not find evidence that indicates that the individual’s burial was special compared to the others – evidence, which was supposed to give an understanding of why the individual consumed betel nuts.
“Psychoactive, medical and ceremonial plants are often rejected as drugs, but they represent millennia of cultural knowledge, spiritual practice and community identity,” Moonkham concluded. “Archaeological evidence can inform contemporary discussions honoring the deep cultural heritage behind these practices.”
