25,000 years ago, Ice Age hunter-gatherers were already consuming psychoactive drugs, according to the analysis of an ancient tooth recovered from an archaeological site. The substance identified was areca nut, a powerful stimulant that is still consumed in various parts of the world today.
This tooth allows us to conclude that the consumption of psychoactive substances by humans is much older than previously thought. The discovery challenges the idea that this type of consumption is a relatively recent practice in human history.
Areca nut was consumed in ancient Europe during the Upper Paleolithic, long before the emergence of agriculture and animal domestication. This fact indicates that hunter-gatherers already possessed sophisticated knowledge about plants and their stimulating properties.
