American Drugs in Egyptian Mummies

Offering pipes at Dendera:

The following pictures are from Dendera and are described as 'offering's'.

The importance of these 'offerings' is evident in their presence, perhaps they were used as a means of communicating with the higher self...

It is clear from the images that these 'offerings' were being inhaled, which opens a topic of conversation rarely covered in archaeological text books, namely that several Egyptian mummies have been found to contain traces of cocaine. The sanctity and importance of such a place as the temple of Hathor at Denderra suggests that this practice of inhaling such 'offerings' may have been an important part of the priesthood rituals.

Although this by no means proves that this is what we are looking at here, we are offered a possibly valuable insight into the mind of the Egyptian priest.

German scientist Svetla Balabanova (1992) and two of her colleagues reported findings of cocaine, hashish and nicotine in Egyptian mummies. The findings were immediately identified as improbable on the grounds that two of the substances were known to be derived only from American plants - cocaine from Erythroxylon coca, and nicotine from Nicotiana tabacum. The suggestion that such compounds could have found their way to Egypt before Columbus' discovery of America seemed patently impossible.

Of the nine mummies evaluated, all showed signs of cocaine and hashish Tetrahydrocannabinol), whereas all but one sampled positive for nicotine. It is interesting too that the concentrations of the compounds suggest uses other than that of abuse. (For example, modern drug addicts often have concentrations of cocaine and nicotine in their hair 75 and 20 times higher respectively than that found in the mummy hair samples.) It is even possible that the quantities found may be high due to concentration in body tissues through time.

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