Archaeologists discovered charred tobacco seeds in the hearth's remains in Great Salt Lake Desert, Utah. These seeds date back over 12,000 years. Kelly McGuire is looking for the hearth. Image credit: Daron Duke
New research has revealed that charred seeds from the Utah desert are the oldest-known evidence of human tobacco use. This is evidence that the plant was used by some of the first Americans to reach the Americas. Researchers discovered that tobacco was used by humans almost 10,000 years before previously believed.
According to the new study, tobacco is the most intoxicant plant that humans abuse and use. It was often used in sacred, ceremonial, or medical functions by the Maya and other Indigenous American tribes. This helped to drive the American colonial economy, as well as Western expansion throughout the New World.
People have used tobacco in many different ways throughout history, including chewing, smoking, and snuffing. Intoxicating enemas of nicotine-laced fluids were used in ancient Maya rituals. 18th-century English doctors administered enemas to drowning victims of tobacco smoke to save their lives.
According to 2018 research in the Journal of Archaeological Science Reports, the earliest evidence of human smoking was nicotine in pipes from Alabama. This date back around 3,300 years. Scientists now know that tobacco was used by humans 9,000 years before it was thought.
Related: 10 Things We Learned About the First Americans in 2018
Archaeologists found the remains of a hunter/gatherer camp on the Great Salt Lake Desert's mud flats. According to Daron Duke (study lead author), an archaeologist from the Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Henderson, Nevada, wind helped expose the site over the years.
Scientists discovered an intact, ancient fireplace that was surrounded by stone artifacts. These included spear tips used for large game hunting. More than 2000 bones and bone fragments were also found in the hearth, most of them belonging to ducks. These cut marks and other evidence suggest that people there cooked and ate.
Researchers found spear tips that were used to hunt large game at the Great Salt Lake Desert excavation in Utah. Daron Duke, image credit
It contained pieces of charred willowwood that were probably the best option for firewood in the area. This is also what it was in nearby modern areas. The wood was then analysed with carbon dating, which measures the radioactive carbon form with a known decay rate. The results indicated that the wood was approximately 12,300 years old.
The scientists discovered four charred tobacco seed remains in the fireplace. Duke said that the tobacco seeds were an unexpected surprise.
Researchers cannot determine how the people used tobacco at this site, but they believe the seeds suggested the presence of nicotine-loaded tobacco leaf and flowering stems. The team suggested that the people at the site may have smoked or chewed tobacco near the fireside.
Researchers noted that while some might argue that the tobacco was not used to provide nicotine, others may suggest that it came from the stomachs or was burned as fuel. Researchers noted that the tobacco is not eaten by birds and lacks woody material, so it burns too fast to produce enough heat or time for most cooking.
These results suggest that humans used tobacco for thousands upon thousands of years, Duke stated.
Duke stated that "people in the past were the ultimate Botanists and quickly identified the intoxicant value of tobacco upon arrival in the Americas."
The researchers suggested that further research on this site and on other sites with evidence of tobacco-use could shed light on the cultural factors behind cultivation, use, and subsequent domestication.
Duke stated that he had been trying to obtain Indigenous input on the significance and importance of the find. This will help us not only understand the find for scientific purposes, but also to learn more about the value of the find to the people whose ancestors lived in the area and camped there. This is important for understanding the implications of science from many different interests.
Researchers presented their findings online Monday, Oct. 11, in Nature Human Behaviour.
Original publication on Live Science
