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Cannabis usage/growing in pre-colonial North America
- Thread starter strained
- Start date
I believe cartier found hemp plants growing wild all over canada and being used by american indians there. I believe there's also been some pipes found with cannabis residues in ohio. Theres also a little know piece of cloth that the smithsonian has had for some time which has cannabis fibers. Its a great subject.
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Nothing about cannabis in this- Just a history lesson..
Nothing about cannabis in this- Just a history lesson..
I once did a paper on the fall of the Cherokee nation. It was brought around by vanity! Traders came in with silk ribbons, beads and thimbles (they made great bells for dresses) and booze. These items were bought with deer hides and furs.
Now the normal, matrilinial/matriarchal, way of life for the Cherokees was to farm during the warm season and the men hunted during winter on their mother's family's land for their mother's family (not his wife's family and his kids- his wife's brother took care of her kids). A number of women would go on the trips to help process the deer. In winter, the villages were half empty (which cut down the amount of scarce firewood that was needed in the village). Women owned the farm land and the house. Property, sensibly, went through the female line ( you can fake who a dad is, but it's dang hard to fake childbirth!) The men helped in the garden during harvest and hunted, but kicked back a lot, while the women ran things. It was a workable system and eccologically sound.
Then came the traders, Everyone wanted the new ornaments for their clothing! More hides were needed! The hunting trips became longer and all but the oldest and youngest went hunting. Soon, the hunting trips were cutting into the planting season. Less corn and vegetables were grown, but there was plenty of meat. Alcohol, another trade item, made the people less willing to work. Hunting was easier and it bought more booze and beads. (Drunken hunting has a long history!) The deer population plumetted and the hunting parties had to hunt out of their normal territories. (This did not help inter-tribal relations.) The farms slowly fell to ruin. The women lost power. They went from politically active, autonomous land owners to overworked hunting camp drudges for the sake of beads and bells for their outfits. The elders died off, leaving no one to pass on their culture to the young- who grew up drunken, wild and disorderly. The men, controlled the economy with hunting for a while, but when the ecology crashed- No more deer! No more money. The farms were gone- sold to survive in the new money economy, or just taken by the ever-growing number of whites. The federal government steps in to "save" my drunken, landless, cultureless ancestors by sending them to Oklahoma.
I bet you never read that in a history book! Granny Storm Crow 
Nothing about cannabis in this- Just a history lesson..
I once did a paper on the fall of the Cherokee nation. It was brought around by vanity! Traders came in with silk ribbons, beads and thimbles (they made great bells for dresses) and booze. These items were bought with deer hides and furs.
Now the normal, matrilinial/matriarchal, way of life for the Cherokees was to farm during the warm season and the men hunted during winter on their mother's family's land for their mother's family (not his wife's family and his kids- his wife's brother took care of her kids). A number of women would go on the trips to help process the deer. In winter, the villages were half empty (which cut down the amount of scarce firewood that was needed in the village). Women owned the farm land and the house. Property, sensibly, went through the female line ( you can fake who a dad is, but it's dang hard to fake childbirth!) The men helped in the garden during harvest and hunted, but kicked back a lot, while the women ran things. It was a workable system and eccologically sound.
Then came the traders, Everyone wanted the new ornaments for their clothing! More hides were needed! The hunting trips became longer and all but the oldest and youngest went hunting. Soon, the hunting trips were cutting into the planting season. Less corn and vegetables were grown, but there was plenty of meat. Alcohol, another trade item, made the people less willing to work. Hunting was easier and it bought more booze and beads. (Drunken hunting has a long history!) The deer population plumetted and the hunting parties had to hunt out of their normal territories. (This did not help inter-tribal relations.) The farms slowly fell to ruin. The women lost power. They went from politically active, autonomous land owners to overworked hunting camp drudges for the sake of beads and bells for their outfits. The elders died off, leaving no one to pass on their culture to the young- who grew up drunken, wild and disorderly. The men, controlled the economy with hunting for a while, but when the ecology crashed- No more deer! No more money. The farms were gone- sold to survive in the new money economy, or just taken by the ever-growing number of whites. The federal government steps in to "save" my drunken, landless, cultureless ancestors by sending them to Oklahoma.
I bet you never read that in a history book! Granny Storm Crow 
kush07
Member
I am fairly sure that Native Americans did use Cannabis. Popular belief holds that the ancestors of Native Americans come from Asia. Seeing as the suspected origin of Cannbis is in Asia it is highly probable that Natives did use Cannabis for clothing, definitely and possibly medicinally as well.
On the origins of Cannabis: I tend to disagree with the origins of Cannabis being Asia. My personal vandetta says that Cannabis sprang from the Middle East, possibly present day Iraq, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Does anyone else share this belief with me or am I just smokin to much of this shit?
Happy Toking
On the origins of Cannabis: I tend to disagree with the origins of Cannabis being Asia. My personal vandetta says that Cannabis sprang from the Middle East, possibly present day Iraq, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Does anyone else share this belief with me or am I just smokin to much of this shit?
Happy Toking
G
Guest
Storm Crow said:I once did a paper on the fall of the Cherokee nation. It was brought around by vanity! Traders came in with silk ribbons, beads and thimbles (they made great bells for dresses) and booze. These items were bought with deer hides and furs.
Now the normal, matrilinial/matriarchal, way of life for the Cherokees was to farm during the warm season and the men hunted during winter on their mother's family's land for their mother's family (not his wife's family and his kids- his wife's brother took care of her kids). A number of women would go on the trips to help process the deer. In winter, the villages were half empty (which cut down the amount of scarce firewood that was needed in the village). Women owned the farm land and the house. Property, sensibly, went through the female line ( you can fake who a dad is, but it's dang hard to fake childbirth!) The men helped in the garden during harvest and hunted, but kicked back a lot, while the women ran things. It was a workable system and eccologically sound.
Then came the traders, Everyone wanted the new ornaments for their clothing! More hides were needed! The hunting trips became longer and all but the oldest and youngest went hunting. Soon, the hunting trips were cutting into the planting season. Less corn and vegetables were grown, but there was plenty of meat. Alcohol, another trade item, made the people less willing to work. Hunting was easier and it bought more booze and beads. (Drunken hunting has a long history!) The deer population plumetted and the hunting parties had to hunt out of their normal territories. (This did not help inter-tribal relations.) The farms slowly fell to ruin. The women lost power. They went from politically active, autonomous land owners to overworked hunting camp drudges for the sake of beads and bells for their outfits. The elders died off, leaving no one to pass on their culture to the young- who grew up drunken, wild and disorderly. The men, controlled the economy with hunting for a while, but when the ecology crashed- No more deer! No more money. The farms were gone- sold to survive in the new money economy, or just taken by the ever-growing number of whites. The federal government steps in to "save" my drunken, landless, cultureless ancestors by sending them to Oklahoma.
Again not on the topic of Cannabis use, but I have to add that it sounds like the Cherokee experience was fairly similar to that of the Iroquois of Central New York... different in several respects (beaver pelts instead of deer, the importance of increasingly lethal encounters with other native groups, and an earlier time period), but similar. The Ordeal of the Longhouse is a good book on the subject.
G
Guest
Have not the Hopi Indians common DNA with the Mongolian Indians?
All the best, Flowers
All the best, Flowers
G
Guest
I would also think that cannabis from mexico made it's way up into what we would call the southern US.
S
Space Ghost
who says cannabis is indiginous to mexico?
G
Guest
I didn't, but it was a shot in the dark. So 500+ years ago it wasn't in mexico yet?
It was in mexico at least from the time of cortez when some marooned moorish members of his crew made their way to michoacoan with some seeds from west africa or central asia (cortez and many of his crew traveled all over the world before coming to the new world) a little less than 500 yrs ago but whether it was precolombian is the question.
zamalito is right that there were ceremonial pipes found in the mound builders culture in Ohio that contained what scientists believe was cannabis resin.It is possibe that they might have been mistaken. As far as the origin of cannabis is concerned, I think that is highly likely that it originated in china, but I don't think that anyone knows for sure. On the relationships of Native-americans, there are different ways to find relationships, one is through linguistics. The Aztecs of mexico and the Utes/Paiutes of the U.S. spoke closely related tongues , both in the uto-aztecan family. The Navaho and Apache spoke dialects of Athabaskan, as did Indians in Alberta and Br. Columbia. In my early days as an anthropology student, I had maps that I had drawn the showed the linguistic alliences between many of the North and Central american tribes. When I studied the subject 35 years ago, the common philosophy was that the Amerinds had crossed over a frozen land bridge from Asia during the last ice age, about 12,500 years ago. However some archaeological sites in Tierra del Fuego and in Texas were dated at 20,000 years ago, prompting a multiple migration theory. Now many scientists believe that some native people may have floated along the shoreline in bull boats, which would have allowed them to travel faster and further that we had previously imagined. Even I am do not know the truth. Really, guys, I am not THAT old.
As far as DNA evidence is involved, all human population is descended from between 5-10,000 individuals that survived a super volcano explosion on the island of Sumatra about 74,000 years ago. I believe the volcano was called Toba, or something like that. It was more powerfull than Krakatoa and Pinatubo. It had a magma chamber of about 8000 cubic kilimeters and changed the world climate by 5 degrees. That would translate to about 15 degrees cooler in Europe. The earth's population was decimated from several million to 5,000-10,000 individuals. This has been proven through the use of mitachondrial DNA, passed down through the mother only. Guess what? There is a super volcano under yellowstone Park that is 10 times the size of toba, and is scheduled to go off somewhere between tomorrow and 200,000 years from now. Sorry I can't get the timeframe any closer so that you can make travel plans, but that's the way super volcanos are.
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Cannabis was also found in Europe in early times. The Thayngen-Weier(Weier site) in Switzerland was an early Neolithic alpine lake culture which used Elm and wild onion as fodder for domesticated cattle. It is one of the earliest presences in europe for cannabis, dating to 5500-5000 years before present.
G
Guest
Hola Pops,
Awesome posts there my friend. Thanks alot, a more conscise description ive yet to read.
Wonderfull.
Peace, Flowers
Awesome posts there my friend. Thanks alot, a more conscise description ive yet to read.
Wonderfull.
Peace, Flowers
G
Guest
national geographic recently had a article on DNA and how people spread across the planet.
they have a large study with many organizations around the world collectin DNA from native peoples. man of course migrated out of africa, spreadin into europe and asia, then across the land bridge and on down into S.America. also now with the DNA study, its believed that early europeans crossed along the edge of the ice from europe to N.America. the eastern US indians traced by DNA came from europe, and the western natives from siberia.
native amazon tribes still speak some of the same words with the same meanin as siberian skimos.
everybody on this planet comes from one mother, mitachondrial eve. they also talk about a single man as well, a warlord, who in there guesstimation killed all the men at the time, ensurein his seed only amoung the offspring. crazy.
would seem to me, that where ever wanderin tribes encountered weed, which would be all over the planet, adapted to its enviorment, they gathered seed and carried it with um as they spread across the continents. wouldnt weed have been already established by the time man started wanderin around? plants and animals were around long before man.
if anything, weed where ever it was encountered would of went along with mans migrations/wanderins.
they have a large study with many organizations around the world collectin DNA from native peoples. man of course migrated out of africa, spreadin into europe and asia, then across the land bridge and on down into S.America. also now with the DNA study, its believed that early europeans crossed along the edge of the ice from europe to N.America. the eastern US indians traced by DNA came from europe, and the western natives from siberia.
native amazon tribes still speak some of the same words with the same meanin as siberian skimos.
everybody on this planet comes from one mother, mitachondrial eve. they also talk about a single man as well, a warlord, who in there guesstimation killed all the men at the time, ensurein his seed only amoung the offspring. crazy.
would seem to me, that where ever wanderin tribes encountered weed, which would be all over the planet, adapted to its enviorment, they gathered seed and carried it with um as they spread across the continents. wouldnt weed have been already established by the time man started wanderin around? plants and animals were around long before man.
if anything, weed where ever it was encountered would of went along with mans migrations/wanderins.
tepecanos natives of mexico (states of veracruz, hidalgo and puebla) use cannabis sativa which they called 'rosa maria' (rose mary).
it is used in communal healing ceremonies and it is seen as an earth deity which represents the heart of god. it is linked to the virgin as well, for it acts as a sort of messenger of hers.
the source of this info is the new updated version of schultes' and hoffman's plants of the gods,revised by christian ralsch, spanish version. hardcover.
peace!
it is used in communal healing ceremonies and it is seen as an earth deity which represents the heart of god. it is linked to the virgin as well, for it acts as a sort of messenger of hers.
the source of this info is the new updated version of schultes' and hoffman's plants of the gods,revised by christian ralsch, spanish version. hardcover.
peace!
According to this book they have found Native American pipes that contained Cannabis residue as early as 400 BC.
http://www.rexresearch.com/hhist/hhist2~1.htm
JLP
http://www.rexresearch.com/hhist/hhist2~1.htm
JLP
That's amazing, paz. There's so little information readily available on cannabis' history in mexico. The fact that it is an earth deity sort of implies that it's presence goes back as far as the memory of their culture. The concept of a virgin birth in religious dogma goes back way past colombus with the aztecs. I believe the aztec concept is different in that the virgin birth is what put everything into existance. This is why the virgin mary was so easily taken in by indigenous mexican culture. The vergin de guadalupe is actually a christianized version of the goddess Tonantzin. In fact the basilica de guadalupe actually stands where the pyramid of tonantzin once stood. Perhaps this is all evidence of an indigenous cannabis based religion in mexico.
That said I do not believe cannabis was brought across the bering strait at least not by man. It just seems hard to believe that they would've brought seeds for so many generations before the could grow them. It has been established that the mounds indians of ohio (who had the 2400 yr old pipes with cannabis resin) had frequent trade with south america and the caribean. The smoked cannabis they had I believe came from the caribean or latin america. This would explain why tobacco smoking was so much more common and cannabis smoking was practically nonexistent when the european colonialists came because the north americans weren't growing drug cannabis though it seems likely that they were smoking it. When the settlers came and displaced the indians it disrupted trade routes as well as eliminatung the less common cultural aspects making cannabis use disappear in all but a few isolated pockets in mexico and possibly south america. It seems that hemp may have also existed in portions of the eastern 20% of america possibly brought from europe. This leads me to believe that hemp and drug cannabis arrived separately from different parts of the world to different parts of the american continent.
That said I do not believe cannabis was brought across the bering strait at least not by man. It just seems hard to believe that they would've brought seeds for so many generations before the could grow them. It has been established that the mounds indians of ohio (who had the 2400 yr old pipes with cannabis resin) had frequent trade with south america and the caribean. The smoked cannabis they had I believe came from the caribean or latin america. This would explain why tobacco smoking was so much more common and cannabis smoking was practically nonexistent when the european colonialists came because the north americans weren't growing drug cannabis though it seems likely that they were smoking it. When the settlers came and displaced the indians it disrupted trade routes as well as eliminatung the less common cultural aspects making cannabis use disappear in all but a few isolated pockets in mexico and possibly south america. It seems that hemp may have also existed in portions of the eastern 20% of america possibly brought from europe. This leads me to believe that hemp and drug cannabis arrived separately from different parts of the world to different parts of the american continent.
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zamalito, i wasn't aware of that about la virgen de guadalupe! that is really far out, specially that the basilica was built on top of the temple of tonantzin!
btw, it also says that the tepecanos use cannabis sativa when peyote isn't found, but they (in the book) do not affirm nor deny the procedence of cannabis in the 'new world'.
the fact that so many south american cultures embraced chistianity like they did is due to what you point out as well, this has been well studied but rarely wide-spread. even here in my home state there still are native religious festivities dressed with christian/catholic symbolism.
peace.
btw, it also says that the tepecanos use cannabis sativa when peyote isn't found, but they (in the book) do not affirm nor deny the procedence of cannabis in the 'new world'.
the fact that so many south american cultures embraced chistianity like they did is due to what you point out as well, this has been well studied but rarely wide-spread. even here in my home state there still are native religious festivities dressed with christian/catholic symbolism.
peace.
