What's happened
New analyses of bones from Sulawesi suggest foragers 7,600–25,000 years ago sucked betel nuts, with arecoline traces in teeth. This indicates early drug use predates farming and reshapes views on psychoactive history.
What's behind the headline?
Key questions this provokes
- How does this redefine the timeline of drug use in human history?
- What methods confirm ancient psychoactive intake without modern processing?
- Could this reshape understandings of social rituals around substances in forager societies?
Immediate implications
- The finding pushes back the origin of psychoactive use by thousands of years, placing it among forager traditions.
- It prompts re-evaluation of trade and cultural exchange that could have spread betel-nut chewing.
How we got here
Researchers analysed skeletal remains from Sulawesi and found deep dental grooves and arecoline traces, implying the habit of sucking betel nuts. This challenges the view that psychoactive use began with agriculture and highlights deep-rooted forager practices.
Our analysis
New York Post reports on Sulawesi bones showing tooth wear and arecoline traces; BBC Business confirms early use; The Guardian provides context on tooth wear and arecoline evidence; Independent discusses cannibalism context unrelated to betel nuts. Direct quotes from Brumm and Guerra-Doce illustrate interpretations.
Go deeper
- What does this mean for our understanding of early trade networks?
- Could similar evidence exist in other forager populations?
- Will this shift how we categorize early psychoactive substances?
More on these topics
-
Indonesia - Country in Asia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of more than seventeen thousand islands, including Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi, and New Guinea. Indonesia i
-
Sulawesi - Island in Indonesia
Sulawesi, also known as Celebes, is one of the four Greater Sunda Islands. It is governed by Indonesia. The world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago.
-
Griffith University - Public university in south east Queensland, Australia
Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. The university was founded in 1971 and opened officially in 1975. The university has five campuses, at Gold Coast, Nathan, Logan, South Bank, and Mount Gravatt. A sixth campus, to be located at the Treasury Building in the Brisbane CBD, will open in 2027. The university was named after Sir Samuel Walker Griffith, who was twice Premier of Queensland and the first Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia. Sir Samuel Griffith played a major role in the Federation of Australia and was the principal author of the Australian Constitution, and his governments oversaw violent period for Indigenous Australians by involvement with Australian Native Police, but the University has since grown into a social value driven institution emphasizing equity, diversity and inclusion. The university offers undergraduate, postgraduate, and research programs across a range of disciplines, including business, law, science, health, education, engineering, and the arts. Griffith University was originally opened in Nathan, Queensland, as a single campus of 451 students, but has expanded to include five...