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The "basic ring juglets" were widely marketed in the eastern Mediterranean between 1650 and 1350 BC. Once inverted, the shape of the containers resembles that of opium poppy seed heads. Researchers have found traces of opium in one of these containers.
Credit: British Museum
According to a new study by British researchers, it was discovered that a curious looking container, discovered in the Mediterranean and dating back more than 3,000 years, contained traces of opium.
The findings provide evidence of a long debate over whether containers, called "base ring juglets", were used to transport opium.
The containers were widely traded in the eastern Mediterranean between 1650 and 1350 BC.[[[[Trippy Tales: The Story of 8 Hallucinogens]
From the 1960s, some researchers speculated that the shape of the containers was an indication of their function: once inverted, they look like seed heads of poppies with opium.
But it lacks reliable evidence linking containers to opium.
Researchers at York University and the British Museum used a variety of analytical techniques to provide the first rigorous proof that the ships actually contained opium.
The researchers studied a juglet of the British Museum. The juglet had been sealed, which helped preserve the content inside, the researchers said.
The first analysis showed that the residue in juglet was mainly composed of vegetable oil, but also suggested the presence of opium alkaloidswhich are a group of organic compounds derived from the opium poppy. These compounds include the powerful Morphine and codeine analgesics, as well as other compounds that do not have analgesic effects.
But to conclusively detect opium alkaloids, researchers had to create a new analytical technique using instruments from the Center for Excellence in Mass Spectrometry at the University of York.
"The opiate alkaloids we've detected are the ones we've shown to be the most resistant to degradation," co-authored Rachel Smith of the York University Department of Chemistry. said in a statement. (Smith has developed the new technique as part of his doctoral dissertation.) These opiate alkaloids resistant to degradation do not include morphine, Smith noted.
The researchers point out that we still do not know exactly how the juglet was used. "Could [the opiates] have been one ingredient among others in an oil-based blend, or could the juglet be reused for oil after opium, or something else? "Smith said.
A previous assumption was that the juglet could have been used to hold poppy seed oil used for the anointing or in a perfume.
"It's important to remember that it's only a single ship, so the result raises many questions about the content of the juglet and its purpose," said Rebecca Stacey, a scientist. Principal in the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research of the British Museum. "The presence of alkaloids here is unequivocal and gives a new perspective to the debate over their meaning."
The oldest evidence of human use of opium dates back to the sixth millennium BC. (6000 to 5001 BC), Science On Line Posted previously.
The study is published yesterday (October 2) in the journal Analyst, a publication of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Originally published on Science live.
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