The oldest evidence of opium use in the world has been discovered by Israeli archaeologists at a Late Bronze Age burial site.
The fragments of pottery were originally discovered in 2012, but new chemical tests this year have revealed the presence of opium residue.
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) who were responsible for the 2012 discovery, released this fresh evidence in their latest study, conducted in collaboration with Tel Aviv University and The Weizmann Institute of Science.
The study suggests that the opium in the pottery receptacles was harvested in what is now Turkey, and transported via Cyprus.
Researchers says the artefacts date to around 3,400 years ago, when the Canaanite civilisation inhabited the lands roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel and the Palestinian territories.
It is thought that the potteries, dubbed “Base-Ring juglets”, were buried by the Canaanites with their dead in the belief that they would accompany people into the afterlife.
Opium is an addictive narcotic extracted from poppy plants. It is used in the production of drugs such as morphine, codeine, and heroin.
Researchers say the artefacts date to around 3,400 years ago, when the Canaanite civilisation inhabited the lands roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The potteries are shaped like inverted closed poppy flowers, and researchers had previously guessed that this could have been a nod to their use in opium-related rituals. However, the latest study is the first to find physical evidence of opium traces within the vessels.
Dr Ron Be’eri, a co-author of the study, published by the Archaeometry academic journal, said: "It may be that during these ceremonies, conducted by family members or by a priest on their behalf, participants attempted to raise the spirits of their dead relatives in order to express a request, and would enter an ecstatic state by using opium.”
"Alternatively, it is possible that the opium, which was placed next to the body, was intended to help the person's spirit rise from the grave in preparation for the meeting with their relatives in the next life,” he continued.
It comes just two years after Tel Aviv University researchers discovered cannabis traces at a 2,700-year-old temple in Israel’s south-east Tel Arad archaeological mound.
