First Historical Stash of Marijuana

In the far north-eastern part of China, the beautiful but deeply inhospitable Flaming Mountains lie. Travellers going across the Silk Road in ancient history avoided this area, skirting south to parts of the desert that contained waterholes and vegetation. The Turpan Oasis was one of these (see second photo), and it was in this region about 700 BCE that a 40-something year old caucasian man with blue eyes was buried. (See third image.) Dressed in garments that suggested he was a shaman, the burial included the world’s earliest known stash of marijuana. The plants weighed about two-pounds, and had been picked over to remove the male specimens, which have fewer pschoative properties than the female parts — thus establishing the use of the marijuana for its mental effects. Cannabis has a long history of historical use — so long that we have a difficult time studying it.