Ancient Israelites may have used cannabis to get high as part of their religious ritual–

that’s according to Israeli researchers who found residue of the drug at a nearly 3,000-year-old shrine.

The traces were found on an altar at the Tel Arad temple, in the Negev Desert.

The site was discovered more than 50 years ago–

but new analysis on the limestone altar led to the the surprising discovery.

Archaeologist Eran Arie, led the research project.

”I think that two things are new in this research, the first one is the use of this specific material, cannabis, in the ancient Near East. We did not know anything about cannabis in the ancient Near East and this is the first example for this material in the excavations in Israel. Second of all, we didn’t know anything about the fact that Judea, the kingdom of Judea, the official kingdom of Judea uses psychoactive materials in their religious.”

Arie said the material contained traces of cannabis and animal dung, likely used to help the plant burn,

traces of Frankincense were found on a second altar at the shrine.

Video Transcript

– Ancient Israelites may have used cannabis to get high as part of their religious ritual. That’s according to Israeli researchers who found residue of the drug at a nearly 3,000-year-old shrine. The traces were found on an altar at the Tel Arad temple in the Negev desert. The site was discovered more than 50 years ago, but new analysis on the limestone altar led to this surprising discovery. Archaeologist Eran Arie led the research project.

ERAN ARIE: I think that two things are new in this research. The first one is the use of this specific material, cannabis, in the ancient Near East. We didn’t know– we didn’t know anything about cannabis in the ancient Near East, and this is the first example for this material in the excavations in Israel. And second of all, we didn’t know anything about the fact that Judah, the kingdom of Judah, the official kingdom of Judah, uses psychoactive materials in their religious.

– Arie said the material contained traces of cannabis and animal dung, likely used to help the plant burn. Traces of frankincense were also found on a second altar at the shrine.

Source: https://mmpconnect.com/high-times-researchers-find-cannabis-residue-at-ancient-shrine/