Earliest Use of Psychoactive Plant Identified in Iron Age Arabia - Archaeology Magazine

Earliest Use of Psychoactive Plant Identified in Iron Age Arabia - Archaeology Magazine

Fumigation device with traces of harmal QURAYYAH, SAUDI ARABIA—The plant species Peganum harmala, also known as Syrian rue or harmal, is known worldwide for its psychoactive, antibacterial, and therapeutic properties. It has also played a significant cultural role in traditional medicine for centuries. According to a statement released by the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, humans' deliberate usage of the plant goes back much further th…

Earliest use of psychoactive and medicinal plant 'harmal' identified in Iron Age Arabia - Tech and Science Post

New research published in Communications Biology has uncovered the earliest known use of the medicinal and psychoactive plant Peganum harmala, commonly known as Syrian rue or harmal, in fumigation practices and inhaled as smoke. The findings offer unprecedented insight into early Arabian therapeutic and sensorial practices, revealing that native plants were already being deliberately used for their bioactive and psychoactive properties nearly 2,…

The use of psychoactive plants for medical or ritual purposes does not date back yesterday. Archaeologists have come to provide direct evidence of this in Saudi Arabia, where traces of substances affecting consciousness have been found in a tomb dating back to ancient times.