CHINESE archaeological hemp?

http://www.springerlink.com/content/qg9520642516610j/?p=f0ac733c55634d3892e493f5d888f3eb&pi=0

Results of molecular analysis of an archaeological hemp ( Cannabis sativa L.) DNA sample from North West China

Ashutosh Mukherjee1, Satyesh Chandra Roy2 , S. De Bera2, Hong-En Jiang3, 4, Xiao Li5, Cheng-Sen Li3, 6 and Subir Bera2

(1) Department of Botany, Dinabandhu Mahavidyalaya, Bongaon, North 24 Parganas, 743235, West Bengal, India
(2) Department of Botany, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, 700019, India
(3) Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China
(4) Graduate School, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, China
(5) Bureau of Cultural Relics of Turpan Prefecture, 838000 Xinjiang, Turpan, China
(6) Beijing Museum of Natural History, Beijing, 100050, China
Received: 28 September 2007 Accepted: 21 April 2008 Published online: 21 May 2008

Abstract Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) cultivation and utilization is an ancient practice to human civilization. There are some controversies on the origin and subsequent spread of this species. Ancient plant DNA has proven to be a powerful tool to solve phylogenetic problems. In this study, ancient DNA was extracted from an archaeological specimen of Cannabis sativa associated with archaeological human remains from China. Ribosomal and Cannabis specific chloroplast DNA regions were PCR amplified. Sequencing of a species-specific region and subsequent comparison with published sequences were performed. Successful amplification, sequencing and sequence comparison with published data suggested the presence of hemp specific DNA in the archeological specimen. The role of Humulus japonicus Sieb. et Zucc. in the evolution of Cannabis is also indicated. The identification of ancient DNA of 2500 years old C. sativa sample showed that C. sativa races might have been
introduced into China from the European–Siberian center of diversity.

The almost full article is posted below in my next post...



http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...serid=10&md5=f31d5bbef171cb933ce07eca9cad0f24

A new insight into Cannabis sativa (Cannabaceae) utilization from 2500-year-old Yanghai Tombs, Xinjiang, China
Author(s)
JIANG Hong-En (1 2 3) ; XIAO LI (3) ; ZHAO You-Xing (4) ; FERGUSON David K. (5) ; HUEBER Francis (6) ; BERA Subir (7) ; WANG Yu-Fei (1) ; ZHAO Liang-Cheng (8) ; LIU Chang-Jiang (1) ; LI Cheng-Sen (1 9) ;
Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s)
(1) Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, CHINE
(2) Graduate School, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, CHINE
(3) Bureau of Cultural Relics of Turpan Prefecture, Turpan 838000, Xinjiang, CHINE
(4) State Key Laboratory of Phytochemistry and Plant Resources in West China, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650204, CHINE
(5) Institute of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, 1090 Vienna, AUTRICHE
(6) Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institutions, Wastington DC 20560-0121, ETATS-UNIS
(7) Department of Botany, University of Calcutta, Kolkata 700019, INDE
(8) College of Biological Science and Biotechnology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, CHINE
(9) Beijing Museum of Natural History, Beijing 100050, CHINE
Résumé / Abstract
A cache of shoots, leaves and fruits dated by 14C at 2500 years B.P. were unearthed in the Yanghai Tombs, Turpan District in Xinjiang, China. By comparing the morphological and anatomical characteristics of the plant remains found in the tomb and specimens of modem plants, it is shown that the remains belong to Cannabis. Based on the shamanistic background of the deceased man and ancient customs, it is assumed that the Cannabis was utilized for ritual/medicinal purposes.
Journal Title
Journal of ethnopharmacology ISSN 0378-8741
Source
2006, vol. 108, no3, pp. 414-422 [9 page(s) (article)] (39 ref.)



http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...serid=10&md5=0b8f204a3bdae65a8cbec1f9683f24cd


Cannabis seed identification by chloroplast and nuclear DNA

Li-Chin Tsaia, b, Hsing-Mei Hsieha, Li-Hung Huangc, Jenn-Che Wangb, Adrian Linacred and James Chun-I Leee, ,

aDepartment of Forensic Science, Central Police University, 56 Shu-Jen Road, Kwei-San, Taoyuan 33334, Taiwan, ROC bDepartment of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, 88 Ting-Chow Road, Sec 4, Taipei 116, Taiwan, ROC cForensic Science Laboratory, Central Police University, 56 Shu-Jen Road, Kwei-San, Taoyuan 33334, Taiwan, ROC dCentre for Forensic Science, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XW, United Kingdom eDepartment and Graduate Institute of Forensic Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, No. 1 Jen Ai Road Section 1,Taipei 100, Taiwan, ROC

i dont know what this means

how would i use this info to push thing forward?

nice one sam

Very intriguing. So they found the parent stock you could say of sativas from todays era?

Excellent info Sam. Thanks for sharing the abstract.

Essentially it says they confirmed Cannabis DNA in a very old sample of what was thought to be cannabis found with some human artifacts an an archeological dig site.

Using DNA analysis and comparing it to other samples elsewhere it might suggest that cannabis is not native to Chine but was brought to China from European or Siberian travellers.

I'd have to read the article to say more about the point of the study but it sounds like an interesting piece in the history of cannabis puzzle.


Cannacopia

While many have thought China to be the home to cannabis because of the early use of cannabis there, this seems to indicate another birthplace for our favorite herb. Too bad that you have to pay to read the article in full. Cannabis has been found in both Romania and Switzerland in archaeological sites dating back 5,000 years ago or more. The Thayngen-Weier site in Switzerland was an early neolithic Alpine lake settlement between 5500-5000 years ago. Cannabis sativa was found there.

I bet prehistoric buds were as big as T-rex and prob eaten by Brachiosaurs as a digestive agent with a extra effect to boot...lol..
I'll go with the Siberian concept as we as a race migrated and evolved from these same regions..Its natural to assume that Life as it formed over the Continents in this direction as it was all 1 big Tectonic plate at the time after the Ice age..Then the plates separated and our races were divided or we actually evolved by region..and same with the Cannabis plant and most biological life forms..IMO..
btw the Karl Hillig study is more defined as far as Variety or "Race" and region goes and base DNA study or the Latest from what Ive found..
© 2004 Botanical Society of America, Inc.
A chemotaxonomic analysis of cannabinoid variation in Cannabis (Cannabaceae)1
Karl W. Hillig2 and Paul G. Mahlberg
http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/91/6/966
FOE20

Cannacopia said:

Using DNA analysis and comparing it to other samples elsewhere it might suggest that cannabis is not native to Chine but was brought to China from European or Siberian travellers.

Click to expand...

forgive my pedantry, but it does not say anything about the ethnicity or origin of the groups who might have been responsible for the introduction

as it is, though the Xinjiang region is currently within the political borders of China, this is only relatively recent - during the Great Game period it was solidly Turkic (Uighur cf. current problems), and long prior to that the influence of distant China was tenuous at best

what is now the "Xinjiang" region experienced a great deal of influence from ethnic groups to its west throughout its history - I don't know enough to just ad lib about it accurately though, but in the early centuries CE ideas from Persia began to spread there, as did Christianity and Buddhism

"The identification of ancient DNA of 2500 years old C. sativa sample showed that C. sativa races might have been introduced into China from the European–Siberian center of diversity."

has someone signed up to the journal? - I remember when it was reported in the press - do they specify exactly what they mean by C. Sativas European-Siberian centre of diversity?

Yaaaaaaay ! Cannabis archeology in Eastern Turkestan, hurra ! Thanks so much for posting those links sam ! will take some time this evening to check all quietly.

The identification of ancient DNA of 2500 years old C. sativa sample showed that C. sativa races might have been introduced into China from the European–Siberian center of diversity.

Click to expand...

Excellent, I was sure of that and am glad to see scientific basis for this theory, hurra !

what is now the "Xinjiang" region experienced a great deal of influence from ethnic groups to its west throughout its history - I don't know enough to just ad lib about it accurately though, but in the early centuries CE ideas from Persia began to spread there, as did Christianity and Buddhism

Click to expand...

Yeah, until a few years ago Tarim basin was mostly considered as being a desert and bas. But sino-french archeological campaigns have revealed that it is actually a true craddle of civilization. Agriculture was practiced there 2000 years before China by people originating from Caucasus through Central Asia & Siberia, bringing with them wheat seeds along other ones among which certainly was some of cannabis.

has someone signed up to the journal? - I remember when it was reported in the press - do they specify exactly what they mean by C. Sativas European-Siberian centre of diversity?

Click to expand...

Could that about an area going from Ukrainian steppes to the western SIberia just east of Urals ?

Irie !

... ummm at the risk of derailing this thread--- does anyone remember the find in a cave in N. Thailand of cannabis remains, though to date back about 10,000 years or so to the end of the last ice age?

along with the often mentioned Taiwanese hemp fibre pottery etc. this just making me wonder if it is possible that cannabis may not have done a lot of its spreading prior to the last ice age, possibly often without human assistance?

ok so cave men (Neanderthals) were stoners...lol....and then?...
keep it rollin fellaz..
FOE20

Andrew Sherratt

Chinese Hemp?

Chinese Hemp?

Results of molecular analysis of an archaeological hemp
(Cannabis sativa L.) DNA sample from North West China

Ashutosh Mukherjee , Satyesh Chandra Roy , S. De Bera , Hong-En Jiang ,
Xiao Li , Cheng-Sen Li , Subir Bera
A. Mukherjee
Department of Botany, Dinabandhu Mahavidyalaya,
Bongaon, North 24 Parganas 743235, West Bengal, India
S. C. Roy (&)
􏰀 S. De Bera 􏰀 S. Bera
Department of Botany, University of Calcutta,
Kolkata 700019, India
e-mail: [email protected]
H.-E. Jiang
􏰀 C.-S. Li
Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China
H.-E. Jiang
Graduate School, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Beijing 100039, China
X. Li
Bureau of Cultural Relics of Turpan Prefecture,
838000 Xinjiang, Turpan, China
C.-S. Li
Beijing Museum of Natural History, Beijing 100050,
China
Published online: 21 May 2008
Genet Resour Crop Evol (2008) 55:481–485
Keywords
􏰀 Archaeological DNA
􏰀 Hemp phylogeny
􏰀 Humulus japonicus
􏰀 Species identification
􏰀 Yanghai Tombs

Abstract
Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) cultivation and
utilization is an ancient practice to human civilization.
There are some controversies on the origin and
subsequent spread of this species. Ancient plant DNA
has proven to be a powerful tool to solve phylogenetic
problems. In this study, ancient DNA was extracted
from an archaeological specimen of Cannabis sativa
associated with archaeological human remains from
China. Ribosomal and Cannabis specific chloroplast
DNA regions were PCR amplified. Sequencing of a
species-specific region and subsequent comparison
with published sequences were performed. Successful
amplification, sequencing and sequence comparison
with published data suggested the presence of hemp
specific DNA in the archeological specimen. The role
of Humulus japonicus Sieb. et Zucc. in the evolution of
Cannabis is also indicated. The identification of
ancient DNA of 2500 years old C. sativa sample
showed that C. sativa races might have been intro-
duced into China from the European–Siberian center of
diversity.


Introduction
Cannabis sativa L. (hemp) is one of the few plant
species with a long history of cultivation and used as
a medicinal, a fibre and seed oil plant. It has probably
been used for at least 10,000 years (Schultes et al.
1974). The use of Cannabis as medicine is found in
India in the medical work Susruta, compiled around
1000 BC (Bouquet 1950; Schultes 1970). The ancient
Chinese also knew its medicinal value, as it was
referred to in the herbal Pen ts-ao Ching (Li 1974,
1978; Touw 1981). The taxonomic treatment of the
species is problematic. Linnaeus was of the opinion



482

that it is a single species, whereas Lamarck (1785)
determined that the Indian strains of the species are
different from the hemp of Europe and gave a new
specific name to the Indian Cannabis as C. indica.
Small and Cronquist (1976) treated Cannabis as a
single species and divided it into subspecies Cannabis
sativa L. subsp. indica (Lam.) Small and Cronquist
and C. sativa L. subsp. sativa. Recently, Hillig (2005),
on the basis of allozyme data, showed that Cannabis
has derived from two major gene pools and on the
basis of this data, he recognized C. sativa and
C. indica as separate species. The centre of origin of
Cannabis is believed to be in Central Asia, from where
it subsequently spread to Mediterranean countries as
well as to Eastern and Central European countries
(Faeti et al. 1996). The genus may have two centers of
diversity, Hindustani and European–Siberian (Zeven
and Zhukovsky 1975). It is difficult to mention the
exact place of origin of the plant due to its long history
of cultivation.
The molecular analysis and the study of sequence
homology from ancient samples have considerable
value in phylogenetic studies (Kim et al. 2004). The
materials from which aDNA analyses have been done
include pollen grain (Suyama et al. 1996; Parducci
et al 2005), charred wheat (Blatter et al. 2002),
ancient wood (Liepelt et al. 2006) and compressed
leaf fossil (Kim et al. 2004).
Recently, Jiang et al. (2006) discovered ancient
2500 years old hemp remains from Yanghai Tombs,
Turpan, Xinjiang, China which provides the evidence
for the ancient hemp utilization in Chinese history. In
the present investigation, ancient DNA was extracted
and analyzed for the first time from this plant material
collected from Yanghai Tombs, China. The objective
of the present study was to investigate the status of
the aDNA in this C. sativa sample by comparing with
the DNA from the extant one and also to throw some
light on the evolution of the species with the help of
aDNA data.
Materials and methods
At the Yanghai Tombs, Xinxiang, China, a mummy of
a Caucasoid man, about 40 years of age, was found
along with plant remains of ancient Cannabis sativa,
which are believed to be grave gifts (Jiang et al. 2006).
The seeds, leaves and shoots of Cannabis were placed
in a wooden bowl and a leather basket near the head of
the man. Light as well as electron microscopic studies
revealed excellent preservation of the materials (Jiang
et al. 2006). Leaves, fruits and shoots of the archae-
ological Cannabis sativa materials were collected
from this material. Leaves of one extant material of
Cannabis sativa growing as weed were also collected
from the adjoining field of the tomb. DNA was
extracted from both these materials. Extractions of
DNA from ancient materials were done by DNeasy
Plant Mini Kit (Qiagen) according to the manufac-
turer’s protocol. We also performed a CTAB based
extraction as used for the modern DNA. The isolated
DNA of this second extraction was brown in colour due
to the presence of some contaminants. Then QIAquick
spin column (Qiagen) was used to purify the DNA.
PCR amplification of regions from both nuclear and
chloroplast DNA was performed to investigate the
status of these genomes in the ancient materials. To
verify the species authenticity of the DNA of ancient
materials, non-coding spacer region of the chloroplast
DNA was selected. Specific PCR was done for the Inter
Transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the ribosomal DNA
with the primers ITS4 (50 -TCCTCCGCTTATTGA
TATGC-30 ) and ITS5 (50 -GGAAGTAAAAGTCGT
AACAAGG-30 ) as developed by White et al. (1990) to
amplify the nuclear rDNA ITS region. PCR reactions
were done in 25 ll of PCR reaction mix containing
4 ll of extracted DNA, 0.2 lM of each primer,
100 lM of dNTPs, 10 mM Tris (pH 8.3), 3.0 mM
MgCl2 and 1U Taq polymerase. During amplification
of DNA, the initial denaturation was done at 94°C for
5 min followed by 35 cycles each at 94°C for 1 min,
55°C for 1 min, 72°C for 2 min, and final extension for
5 min at 72°C. Amplified products were separated on
1.4% agarose gel. In the gel, a faint band appeared
approximately of 700 bp in case of the archaeological
sample. The first PCR product was then used as
template for a second round of amplification which
resulted in a prominent band.
Additionally, we used a set of Cannabis sativa
specific primers designed by Linacre et al. (1998) to
amplify a portion of chloroplast intergenic spacer
between trnL and trnF region. The amplification
condition was as follows: initial denaturation at 94°C
for 5 min and 35 cycles each at 94°C for 1 min, 57°C
for 1 min, 72°C for 2 min, followed by 5 min final
extension at 72°C. PCR reaction volume and quantity
of contents were the same as in case of ITS region
amplification. Amplified products were separated on
1.4% agarose gel. In gel, a faint band appeared
approximately of 200 bp in case of the archaeological
sample. The first PCR product was then used as
template for a second round of amplification. Purifi-
cation of PCR products was done by PCR purification
kit from QIAGEN. Sequencing was done using the
PCR primers in ABI 3100 automatic sequencer
(Applied Biosystems). Sequences were submitted to
GenBank (Accession No. EF547125 for aDNA
sequence and EF552430 for DNA sequence of extant
material). Searches for similar published sequences
were done thereafter using BLAST (Altschul et al.
1990) from the website http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
blast/Blast.cgi. Four such published sequences were
obtained from the BLAST analysis including a
sequence of Cannabis sativa subsp. indica (Lam.)
E. Small et Cronquist (AB035797), one Cannabis
sativa strain tochigishiro (AB035795) and sequences
from two Humulus species (AB033897: Humulus
japonicus Sieb. et Zucc. and AB036272: Humulus
lupulus L.), which belong to the family Cannabaceae.
Sequence alignment of these four sequences and the
two sequences of the present study was done using
algorithms of CLUSTALW (Thompson et al. 1994)
from the website http://www.ebi.ac.uk. Phylogenetic
analysis was conducted with the algorithm of Maxi-
mum Parsimony of the software package MEGA 3.1
(Kumar et al. 2004) (obtained from http://www.
megasoftware.net). Bootstrap analysis has been car-
ried out with 1000 replicates.
Results and discussion
Both the nuclear ribosomal and chloroplast DNA
region were successfully amplified. The ribosomal
primers amplified ca. 700 bp products in both the
ancient and present day samples. The Cannabis
specific regions also amplified ca. 200 bp products.
After sequencing, we obtained 185 bp and 186 bp
DNA in ancient and present day specimens respec-
tively. DNA analysis from ancient plant samples is
largely dependent on the condition of the botanical
remains. Naturally, well-preserved plant remains
should contain better quality DNA. Preservation of
organelle DNA and genomic DNA also varies with the
preservation condition. Successful amplification of
mitochondrial and chloroplast DNA was reported from
compressed leaf fossil (Kim et al. 2004), whereas
preservation of nuclear DNA was observed in charred
wheat (Banerjee and Brown 2002). The successful
amplification of ribosomal and chloroplast aDNA
region in the present investigation showed that the
nuclear as well as organellar DNA were well pre-
served. Additionally, sequence comparison of the
Cannabis specific trnL-trnF region from the ancient
specimen with the present day specimen along with
other published sequences showed high level of seq-
uence similarity (Fig. 1). These published sequences
include a sequence of Cannabis sativa subsp. indica
(Lam.) E. Small et Cronquist (AB035797), one
Cannabis sativa strain tochigishiro (AB035795) and
sequences from two Humulus species (AB033897:
Humulus japonicus Sieb. et Zucc. and AB036272:
Humulus lupulus L.), which belongs to the family
Cannabaceae. The high level of sequence similarity
also indicates the authenticity of the aDNA.
The phylogenetic tree shows that the ancient
material and the present day material from China
are in the same clade. Cannabis sativa subsp. indica
and C. sativa strain tochigishiro forms different
clades (Fig. 2) indicating some differences from the
Chinese material. The work of Jiang et al. (2006)
suggested that the deceased man was a shaman and
was aware of the intoxicant and/or the medicinal
value of Cannabis. This is also evident from the
smooth inner surface of the wooden bowl which is
due to its prolonged use as a pestle. The shaman with
knowledge of herbal medicine also played the role of
physician in ancient times (Li 1974). These evidences
show that these ancient materials were used as
psychoactive drugs in ritual purposes. Two centers
of diversity namely Hindustani and European-Sibe-
rian was proposed for this species (Zeven and
Zhukovsky 1975). Hillig (2005) showed that through
human vectored dispersal, C. indica, originating from
Afghanistan, dispersed to places like China, Japan,
Africa and other South East Asian countries and
C. sativa, originating from Central Asia, dispersed
into Europe. However, the present study of authen-
tication of aDNA from 2500 years old samples of
Yanghai tomb indicated the migration of C. sativa
might take place through the European-Siberian
center of diversity. Considering the geographical
position of Turpan, which is very close to Central
Asia, there is a probability that these plant materials
may have originated from C. sativa subsp. sativa.






Fig. 1 Sequence alignment
of Cannabis sativa specific
region from modern,
archaeological DNA and
four published sequences.................(UNABLE TO POST FIG 1)
(EF552430: modern DNA
sequence of our study;
EF547125: archaeological
DNA sequence; AB035797:
Cannabis sativa indica
variety; AB035795:
Cannabis sativa strains
tochigishiro; AB033897:
Humulus japonicus and
AB036272: Humulus
lupulus; members of the
family Cannabaceae)


.............................................__________Humulus japonicus
......................................56...l
.........................____________l
...................100.l...................l
.........._________l...................l__________Modern DNA sequence of
.........l...............l......................................Cannabis sativa
..........l..............l_________________Archaeological DNA sequence of
______l...............................................Cannabis sativa
l.........l...................__________Cannabis sativa strain tochigishiro
l.........l...................l
l.........l____________l
l.........................68.l
l.............................l__________Cannabis sativa subsp. indica
l
l________________________________________________Humulus lupulus

Fig. 2 Phylogenetic tree obtained from the sequences of Cannabis and Humulus spp. using Maximum Parsimony with 1000
bootstrap replications. Branch lengths are shown at the nodes
Excuse the Fig. 2, I made it as a copy of the original I could not post (ignore the dots).

Additionally, the molecular data of the present
investigation shows the unique genetic nature of
these plants which is maintained till now.
Humulus japonicus Sieb. et Zucc., a member of the
family Cannabaceae, forms a cluster with Chinese
materials. Previously, it was also noted that the 26s
rDNA region of H. japonicus is almost identical to
C. sativa (Pillay and Kenny 2006). Additionally,
cross grafting of H. japonicus and H. lupulus with
C. sativa was successful (Crombie and Crombie
1975) indicating the very close relationship between
these two genera. Considering these factors, it can be
said that there may be a possibility of gene transfer
between C. sativa and H. japonicus in ancient times
though Humulus lupulus L. forms a different line.
Comparative DNA analysis of ancient and present
materials showed homology of ancient DNA with
present modern taxa as well as related materials
which may help in the study of phylogenetic
relationships among taxa. Phylogenetic analysis
through dendrogram showed that the origin of
C. sativa of North West China is different from
Cannabis sativa subsp. indica (Lam.) E. Small et
Cronquist as shown by forming separate clades which
corroborates the two centers of origin of the genus.
The present study shows the importance of species-
specific conserved DNA sequences in ancient DNA
research for better understanding of crop species of
multiple geographical origin.
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Here is a screen shot of the 2 Figs.

Here is the whole PDF of the Chinese Hemp article.

http://www.filedropper.com/molecularanalysisnwchina2008

-SamS

well a bit of cursory googling and I've found that


cultivation of hemp in China goes back to the Neolithic
the use of hemp cord impressions to decorate pottery in China goes back to about 4th millenium BC
there are third millenium BC graves from Romania and the Caucasus where braziers and hemp seeds ahve been found

the practice of burning hemp as a narcotic goes back in this area some five or six thousand years and was the focus of social and religious rituals of the pastoral people of central Eurasia in prehistoric and historic times

it seems entirely probable that the societies of aboriginal Europe were "smoking cultures" and in this respect resembled those of temperate North America when they were enountered in the 16th and 17th centuries

...

source is Consuming Habits - ed. Andrew Sherratt

how to post a pdf I don't know, Sam; however, here is a link to the .pdf of a journal that was referenced in post number 12 of this thread:

The religious and medicinal uses of Cannabis in China , India , and Tibet. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. Vol. 13(1) Jan-Mar, 1981

http://www.cnsproductions.com/pdf/Touw.pdf

The article is a good read, I have it also.

-SamS

Interesting that 2 varieties of hops were found with the mummy. A shaman would be aware of the special properties of all herbs.

THX FOR SHARING !!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for posting this Sam, it's fun to see that so many here are interested in historical/archaeological studies of Cannabis use, for either industrial/food use as well as drug use.

Good that you pointed out that we're actually not talking about 'Chinese' Cannabis here ngakpa, but rather Central Asian cultural use. Cultures from this region may very well prove to be among the first Cannabis 'drug' cultures.
Scythians and Thracians are known to have used Cannabis as a drug. Russian archeologist Victor Sarianidi has been able to establish that the inhabitants of Gonur Tepe (Turkmenistan) used Cannabis as a drug in certain contexts:

http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/ejvs0901/ejvs0901d.txt

http://www.anahitagallery.com/aharch01.html

If you want I have the Hillig study..heres 1 slice of it...if not its casual..
FOE20

American Journal of Botany 91(6): 966–975. 2004.
A CHEMOTAXONOMIC ANALYSIS OF CANNABINOID
VARIATION IN CANNABIS (CANNABACEAE)1
KARL W. HILLIG2 AND PAUL G. MAHLBERG
Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA

Genetic evidence for speciation in Cannabis (Cannabaceae)
Karl W. Hillig
Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA; Current address: 1010 Saratoga Road,Ballston Lake, NY 12019, USA (e-mail: [email protected])
Received 7 January 2003; accepted in revised form 28 June 2003
Key words: Allozyme, Cannabis, Evolution, Genetics, Origin, Taxonomy
Abstract

Sample populations of 157 Cannabis accessions of diverse geographic origin were surveyed for allozyme variation at 17 gene loci. The frequencies of 52 alleles were subjected to principal components analysis. A scatter plot revealed two major groups of accessions. The sativa gene pool includes fiber/seed landraces from Europe, Asia Minor, and Central Asia, and ruderal populations from Eastern Europe. The indica gene pool includes fiber/seed landraces from eastern Asia, narrow-leafleted drug strains from southern Asia, Africa, and Latin America, wide-leafleted drug strains from Afghanistan and Pakistan, and feral populations from India and Nepal. A third putative gene pool includes ruderal populations from Central Asia. None of the previous taxonomic concepts that were tested adequately circumscribe the sativa and indica gene pools.
A polytypic concept of Cannabis is proposed, which recognizes three species, C. sativa, C. indica and
C. ruderalis, and seven putative taxa.
Abbreviations: PCA – principal components analysis

Introduction
Cannabis is believed to be one of humanity’s oldest
cultivated crops, providing a source of fiber, food,
oil, medicine, and inebriant since Neolithic times
(Chopra and Chopra 1957; Schultes 1973; Li 1974;
Fleming and Clarke 1998). Cannabis is normally a
dioecious, wind-pollinated, annual herb, although
plants may live for more than a year in subtropical
regions (Cherniak 1982), and monoecious plants
occur in some populations (Migal 1991). The indigenous
range of Cannabis is believed to be in Central
Asia, the northwest Himalayas, and possibly extending
into China (de Candolle 1885; Vavilov 1926;
Zhukovsky 1964; Li 1974). The genus may have
two centers of diversity, Hindustani and European–
Siberian (Zeven and Zhukovsky 1975). Cannabis
retains the ability to escape from cultivation and
return to a weedy growth habit, and is considered
to be only semi-domesticated (Vavilov 1926;
Bredemann et al. 1956). Methods of Cannabis
cultivation are described in the ancient literature
of China, where it has been utilized continuously
for at least six thousand years (Li 1974). The genus
may have been introduced into Europe ca. 1500
B.C. by nomadic tribes from Central Asia
(Schultes 1970). Arab traders may have introduced
Cannabis into Africa, perhaps one to two thousand
years ago (Du Toit 1980). The genus is now
distributed worldwide from the equator to
about 60
N latitude, and throughout much of the
southern hemisphere.
Cannabis cultivated for fiber and/or achenes
(i.e., ‘seeds’) is herein referred to as ‘hemp.’ Cannabis
breeders distinguish eastern Asian hemp from the
common hemp of Europe (Bo´csa and Karus 1998;
de Meijer 1999). Russian botanists recognize four
‘eco-geographical’ groups of hemp: Northern,