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Betel Nut Sucking Is the Earliest Recorded Evidence for the Habitual Use of a Neuroactive Plant Drug
Biochemical tests found arecoline in two ancient teeth, giving direct evidence that Sulawesi foragers used betel nut as a stimulant.
- Griffith University researchers discovered evidence that hunter-foragers in Sulawesi, Indonesia, were using betel nut as a psychoactive drug as far back as 25,000 years ago, pushing the known history of human drug use into the Ice Age.
- Previously, scientists believed habitual drug use emerged only after the Neolithic advent of farming, with fermented drinks appearing about 13,000 years ago; this finding suggests modern drug-taking behaviors are deeply rooted in forager traditions.
- Researchers identified deep, rounded tooth grooves in skeletal remains of two individuals dated to 25,000-16,000 and 7,600-6,300 years ago; biochemical testing confirmed arecoline in their dental tissues, providing physical evidence of habitual betel nut consumption.
- Prolonged nut-sucking severely damaged the foragers' teeth, exposing pulp chambers and causing chronic infection; the resulting pain may have paradoxically compelled them to continue the damaging habit, creating a cycle of drug dependence.
- Professor Adam Brumm, who led the study, identified this as the "earliest evidence for drug use anywhere in the world"; today, betel nut remains the world's fourth most widely used psychoactive substance, consumed by about one in 10 people globally.
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It's Oldest Evidence of Habitual Drug Use—and the Damage
An ancient toothache may have given researchers their early look yet at usual drug use among humans. Archaeologists studying two sets of human teath from cellars on Indonesia's Sulawesi island Say distinctive grooves and chemical traces show people there being sucking on betel nuts, also known as areca nuts, as...
·Miami, United States
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Ancient human remains in Indonesia show evidence of habitual betel nut use
·Ankara, Türkiye
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Early inhabitants of Indonesia already used betel nuts – also to numb toothache, Australian researchers say. However, this apparently further damaged the teeth.
·Vienna, Austria
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Total News Sources20
Leaning Left2Leaning Right4Center6Last UpdatedBias Distribution50% Center
Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources are Center
50% Center
L 17%
C 50%
R 33%
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