05/30/2022
๐๐ท๐ด The region that comprises of current day Romania is believed to be one of the first places that humans consumed cannabis through smoking and vaporizing.
Neolithic archaeobotanical evidence for psychoactive use of cannabis was reportedly discovered at the Frumuลica site in northeastern Romania near Moldova. Cannabis use in the form of a โpipe-cupโ holding charred cannabis seeds was uncovered in a pit-grave (kurgan) at Gurbanesti near Bucharest and dated to the later third millennium BCE.
These early evidences for cannabis consumption reported from both Frumuลica and Gurbanesti are associated with ancient Yamnaya cultures, which are referred to as the Corded Ware horizon by archeologists. The people represented by this Yamnaya culture spread rapidly across greater northern Europe beginning about 4900 to 4700 BP, all the way from Ukraine to Belgium.
Peoples of the Yamnaya and derivative cultures were responsible in spreading a special trait of drinking linked to specific types of cord-decorated ceramic cups and beakers. Specifically, people belonging to the Sredni Stog culture, which began in the Pontic steppes and preceded the Yamnaya cultures, were known for the psychoactive use of cannabis (possibly inflorescences and leaves extracted in heated butter or milk) in a mind-altering drink. They spread cannabis and their knowledge about this Cannabis-based brew to their neighbors.
Sources:
Robert C. Clarke, Mark D. Merlin. Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany. University of California Press, 2013
Sherratt, A.G. Economy and Society in Prehistoric Europe: Changing Perspectives. Princeton University, 1997