1 minute read
Stoned Age Man
Norajohnson Breakingviews
BRONZE Age partygoers were getting high on hallucinogenic drugs 3,000 years ago. Scientific analysis of strands of hair from a cave in Menorca give the clearest direct evidence yet of hallucinogenic drug use among ancient civilisations. So, hair today, high tomorrow?
Some may complain that a report about ancient civilisations using hallucinogenic drugs normalises drug use. You may as well say a report about the Trojan horse normalises war! Mind you, one glance at the cave’s eerie stalagmites and even eerier stalactites would convince anyone it wouldn't take much hallucinogen ingestion...
You have to wonder if the plants/sub stances involved played a part in the invention and formulation of religions. A person might have a very vivid hallucination of a stick turning into a snake, and then back into a stick, if they were off their head on mushrooms, for instance. (Though doesn’t sound like the start of Methodism...) Trepanned skulls, with holes drilled into the bone, were also found with indications the individuals involved survived for months afterwards. Maybe listening to the Grateful Dead? Trepanation instruments weren’t complex, made out of flint, obsidian or stone. And, hopefully, easy to acquire. With no bank holiday queues at the local B&Q...
Nora Johnson’s 12 critically acclaimed psychological suspense crime thrillers (www.norajohn son.net) all available online including eBooks (€0.99; £0.99), Apple Books, audiobooks, paperbacks at Amazon etc. Profits to Cudeca cancer charity.
