World’s Oldest Marijuana Found with Aryan Mummy
World’s Oldest Marijuana Found with Aryan Mummy In a grave in the Gobi Desert, nearly two pounds of still-green Marijuana was found buried with the dead has proved to be at least 2,700 years old. A barrage of testing has proven that the marijuana possessed highly potent psychoactive properties and casts doubt on the theory that the ancients only grew the plant for hemp in order to make clothing and rope. They apparently were getting very high, too. Lead author Ethan Russo told Discovery News that the marijuana “is quite similar” to what’s grown today. “We know from both the chemical analysis and genetics that it could produce THC (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase, the main psychoactive chemical in the plant),” he explained. Russo served as a visiting professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Botany while conducting the study. He and his international team analyzed the cannabis, which was excavated at the Yanghai Tombs near Turpan, China. It was found lightly ...