W
Water-
hi - yes, this paper seems to have been inspired by a suggestion Sherratt made years ago - thanks for reminding me to check it out
btw this article you've quoted (not the paper itself) misrepresents the Yamnaya as being "European"... iirc the heart of their region was the Pontic-Caspian steppe and the Caucasus, which is basically the internal Eurasian frontier... Central Eurasia, not Central Europe... it's the same region in which Herodotus later observed the Scythians smoking cannabis
so it's misleading to describe this as an export from Europe... if this trade happened at all, which I am skeptical about... though I should check out this paper before I comment further
Here is a link to the paper, unfortunately its behind a pay wall:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00334-016-0579-6
"Abstract: A systematic review of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental records of cannabis (fibres, pollen, achenes and imprints of achenes) reveals its complex history in Eurasia. A multiregional origin of human use of the plant is proposed, considering the more or less contemporaneous appearance of cannabis records in two distal parts (Europe and East Asia) of the continent. A marked increase in cannabis achene records from East Asia between ca. 5,000 and 4,000 cal bp might be associated with the establishment of a trans-Eurasian exchange/migration network through the steppe zone, influenced by the more intensive exploitation of cannabis achenes popular in Eastern Europe pastoralist communities. The role of the Hexi Corridor region as a hub for an East Asian spread of domesticated plants, animals and cultural elements originally from Southwest Asia and Europe is highlighted. More systematic, interdisciplinary and well-dated data, especially from South Russia and Central Asia, are necessary to address the unresolved issues in understanding the complex history of human cannabis utilisation."