Historic Israelites burned cannabis as element of their religious rituals, an archaeological examine has identified.
A properly-preserved substance discovered in a 2,700-calendar year-previous temple in Tel Arad has been identified as cannabis, which includes its psychoactive compound THC.
Scientists concluded that hashish might have been burned in purchase to induce a high amongst worshippers.
This is the 1st evidence of psychotropic prescription drugs becoming used in early Jewish worship, Israeli media report.
The temple was to start with found out in the Negev desert, about 95km (59 miles) south of Tel Aviv, in the 1960s.
In the newest examine, posted in Tel Aviv University’s archaeological journal, archaeologists say two limestone altars had been buried in the shrine.
Thanks in element to the dry climate, and to the burial, the remains of burnt choices were preserved on leading of these altars.
Frankincense was uncovered on one altar, which was unsurprising simply because of its prominence in holy texts, the study’s authors told Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Having said that, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinol (CBN) – all compounds found in cannabis – had been observed on the 2nd altar.
The examine provides that the results in Tel Arad recommend that hashish also played a part in worship at the Temple of Jerusalem.
This is simply because at the time the shrine in Arad was component of a hilltop fortress at the southern frontier of the Kingdom of Judah, and is claimed to match a scaled-down model of Biblical descriptions of the Initial Temple in Jerusalem.
The continues to be of the temple in Jerusalem are now inaccessible to archaeologists, so instead they research Arad and other comparable shrines to support them comprehend worship at the bigger temple.
