Archaeological sites census

Cannabis remains are reported from many archaeological sites in Europe and Asia in reviews that compile published finds. The sites listed here come from five of them: McPartland and Hegman's review of the European evidence,^[1]^{: Online Resource 2} McPartland, Hegman and Long's synthesis of pollen and plant remains in Asia,^[2]^{: ESM 1} Dal Martello and colleagues' table of measured seeds,^[3]^{: Table 3} Nelson and colleagues' study of textile production in East Asia^[4]^{: Table 1} and Bates's dataset of Indus archaeobotany.^[5] The finds and dates follow the reviews' wording.

McPartland and Hegman found that several European identifications of cord, rope and cloth as hemp rest on appearance alone, with no forensic determination.^[1]^{: Online Resource 2} In the Asian pollen record, several original studies coded the pollen as hop (Humulus), and McPartland, Hegman and Long read parts of these sequences as Cannabis.^[2]^{: ESM 1}

Sites

Site	Country	Find	Date	Reported in
Karakhoja	China	Desiccated seeds, in a table of measured archaeological cannabis seeds	AD 265–907	Dal Martello et al. (2024)^[3]^{: Table 3}
Erdaojingzi	China	Charred seeds, grouped by the review with the small-seeded finds that may in some cases be wild plants	2000–1500 BC	Dal Martello et al. (2024)^[3]^{: Table 3}
Daxinzhuang	China	Charred seeds	1435–1050 BC	Dal Martello et al. (2024)^[3]^{: Table 3}
Yoshinogari	Japan	Hemp marked as present in a table of textile evidence; the kind of find is not given	c. 500 BCE – AD 300	Nelson et al. (2020)^[4]^{: Table 1}
Thayngen-Weier	Switzerland	Twisted cord identified as hemp by Sulzberger (1919) on its appearance; Körber-Grohne questioned the identification	Michelsberg culture, 3800 BC	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
Cave below Merkstein Castle, Bad Vöslau	Austria	Millimetre-size fragments of seed shells cited as hemp; Körber-Grohne (1985) suggests they came down from the medieval castle above	undated (Linearbandkeramik?)	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
Ehrenstein	Germany	A flat cord identified as hemp by Zürn (1965) on its appearance; Körber-Grohne (1985) and Dörfler (1990) question the identification	undated	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
Dănceni I	Moldova	One cannabis seed impression among 247 seed impressions on pottery; Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute et al. (2013) questioned the identification and the dating of the pottery	second half of the 6th millennium BCE	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
Arkaim	Russia	Hemp stalks in the remains of houses	Sintashta culture, 2100–1700 BCE	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
Sintashta	Russia	Pottery with textile impressions, listed as hemp	Sintashta culture, 2100–1700 BCE	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
Uch-Bash	Ukraine	Hemp seed impressions in pottery, reported by Gorbanenko (personal communication, 2016)	Kyzyl-Koba culture, 800–700 BC	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
Hallstatt	Austria	Cloth from the salt mine called "hemp or flax", and a cord from the cemetery marked "hemp?", both identified on their appearance	Hallstatt A or B (1250–800 BCE) for the cloth; the cord undated	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
Tepenec	Czech Republic	One charred seed identified as Cannabis with a question mark (Kühn 1981)	undated ("Late Bronze Age")	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
Trakhtemyriv	Ukraine	Pottery impressions identified as cannabis seed	Scythian, 630–600 BCE	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
Teishebaini	Armenia	Cannabis seeds with wheat, barley, millet, lentils and chickpeas	650–600 BCE	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
Myriv	Ukraine	Seeds, with no further detail; Sramko (1973) cites a publication by Spitsyn that McPartland and Hegman did not find	Scythian, 6th–4th century BCE	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
Corvin tér, Budapest	Hungary	Charred seeds, not described or illustrated	La Tène, 100 BCE	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
Lattes	France	Charred rope fragments from a burnt house that resemble hemp; Chabal and Feugère (2005) suggest nettle, hop or clematis, without ruling out hemp or flax	La Tène, 350/325 BC	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
La Tène	Switzerland	Rope identified as hemp by Vouga (1923) on its appearance	undated	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
Coll del Moro	Spain	Fibres from vats, mostly flax, with a few suggestive of cannabis under the microscope	second half of the 3rd century BCE	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
Rostislavl	Russia	22 charred seeds recovered by flotation	Dyakovo culture, 800–550 BCE	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
Ananyino	Russia	Seeds reported as Cannabis; Zbrueva claimed to have germinated them, a claim McPartland and Hegman call "outrageous"	Ananyino culture, 6th–3rd century BC	McPartland and Hegman (2018)^[1]^{: Online Resource 2}
Alamgirpur	India	Cannabis marked as present in the Mature Harappan phase, in a dataset of published Indus archaeobotany (after Singh et al. 2013); the kind of remains is not given	Mature Harappan; no date given for the find	Bates (2019)^[5]
Tavdinsky grotto	Russia	Phytoliths in a later Scythian tomb	c. 2000 BP	McPartland, Hegman and Long (2019)^[2]^{: ESM 1}
Shendun	China	Pollen coded H (hop) in the review's table through layers of 7,000 to 3,000 years ago; the review reads it as Cannabis or hop, and a surge in c. 2700–2300 BP as cultivated Cannabis	7–3 ka; surge c. 2700–2300 BP	McPartland, Hegman and Long (2019)^[2]^{: ESM 1}
Dongshancun	China	Pollen coded H (hop) in the review's table; the review reads the pollen of 7.2–5.5 ka as Cannabis and a surge in 560–400 BP as cultivated Cannabis	7.2–5.5 ka; surge 560–400 BP	McPartland, Hegman and Long (2019)^[2]^{: ESM 1}
Chengtoushan	China	Hemp seeds, which the review calls the "oldest Cannabis seeds in China"	6400–5300 BP	McPartland, Hegman and Long (2019)^[2]^{: ESM 1}
Lajia	China	A charred hemp seed	4200–3500 BP	McPartland, Hegman and Long (2019)^[2]^{: ESM 1}
Sannai Maruyama	Japan	Hemp seeds	5900–4300 BP	McPartland, Hegman and Long (2019)^[2]^{: ESM 1}
Hemudu	China	Pollen coded H (hop) in the review's table from 6955 BP; the review reads a surge in 5330–4700 BP, with rice pollen, as cultivated Cannabis	from 6955 BP; surge 5330–4700 BP	McPartland, Hegman and Long (2019)^[2]^{: ESM 1}

References

↑ ^1.00 ^1.01 ^1.02 ^1.03 ^1.04 ^1.05 ^1.06 ^1.07 ^1.08 ^1.09 ^1.10 ^1.11 ^1.12 ^1.13 ^1.14 ^1.15 ^1.16 ^1.17 ^1.18 ^1.19 McPartland, John M.; Hegman, William (2018). "Cannabis utilization and diffusion patterns in prehistoric Europe: a critical analysis of archaeological evidence". Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 27 (4): 627–634. doi:10.1007/s00334-017-0646-7.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 ^2.5 ^2.6 ^2.7 ^2.8 McPartland, J.M.; Hegman, W.; Long, T. (2019). "Cannabis in Asia: its center of origin and early cultivation, based on a synthesis of subfossil pollen and archaeobotanical studies". Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 28 (6): 691–702. doi:10.1007/s00334-019-00731-8.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 Dal Martello, Rita; Min, Rui; Stevens, Chris J.; Qin, Ling; Fuller, Dorian Q. (2024). "Morphometric approaches to Cannabis evolution and differentiation from archaeological sites: interpreting the archaeobotanical evidence from bronze age Haimenkou, Yunnan". Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 33 (4): 503–518. doi:10.1007/s00334-023-00966-6.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Nelson, S.; Zhushchikhovskaya, I.; Li, T.; Hudson, M.; Robbeets, M. (2020). "Tracing population movements in ancient East Asia through the linguistics and archaeology of textile production". Evolutionary Human Sciences. 2 e5. doi:10.1017/ehs.2020.4.
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 Bates, J. (2019). "The Published Archaeobotanical Data from the Indus Civilisation, South Asia, c.3200–1500BC". Journal of Open Archaeology Data. 7 5. doi:10.5334/joad.57.

[McPartlandHegman2018-1] 1.00 ^1.01 ^1.02 ^1.03 ^1.04 ^1.05 ^1.06 ^1.07 ^1.08 ^1.09 ^1.10 ^1.11 ^1.12 ^1.13 ^1.14 ^1.15 ^1.16 ^1.17 ^1.18 ^1.19 McPartland, John M.; Hegman, William (2018). "Cannabis utilization and diffusion patterns in prehistoric Europe: a critical analysis of archaeological evidence". Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 27 (4): 627–634. doi:10.1007/s00334-017-0646-7.

[mcpartland2019-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 ^2.5 ^2.6 ^2.7 ^2.8 McPartland, J.M.; Hegman, W.; Long, T. (2019). "Cannabis in Asia: its center of origin and early cultivation, based on a synthesis of subfossil pollen and archaeobotanical studies". Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 28 (6): 691–702. doi:10.1007/s00334-019-00731-8.

[dalmartello2024-3] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 Dal Martello, Rita; Min, Rui; Stevens, Chris J.; Qin, Ling; Fuller, Dorian Q. (2024). "Morphometric approaches to Cannabis evolution and differentiation from archaeological sites: interpreting the archaeobotanical evidence from bronze age Haimenkou, Yunnan". Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 33 (4): 503–518. doi:10.1007/s00334-023-00966-6.

[nelson2020-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Nelson, S.; Zhushchikhovskaya, I.; Li, T.; Hudson, M.; Robbeets, M. (2020). "Tracing population movements in ancient East Asia through the linguistics and archaeology of textile production". Evolutionary Human Sciences. 2 e5. doi:10.1017/ehs.2020.4.

[Bates2019-5] 5.0 ^5.1 Bates, J. (2019). "The Published Archaeobotanical Data from the Indus Civilisation, South Asia, c.3200–1500BC". Journal of Open Archaeology Data. 7 5. doi:10.5334/joad.57.

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Sites

See also

References