This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A team of Griffith University archaeologists has uncovered evidence that humans were using mind-altering substances much earlier than previously supposed. Led by Professor Adam Brumm from Griffith's Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), and involving ARCHE colleagues Associate Professors Carney Matheson and Michelle Langley, the team combined biochemical and archaeological evidence to trace the prehistoric roots of one of the world's most popular addictive stimulants, "betel nut," an ancient drug used throughout much of the Asia-Pacific region.
The group's research, conducted in collaboration with Indonesian archaeologists from Makassar's University of Hasanuddin and the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), shows that the use of betel nut as a drug emerged among some Indonesian communities up to 25,000 years ago, predating the previously suggested Neolithic or Bronze Age origins (about 3,500 years ago). Presently, it is thought that the world's first traditions of psychoactive drug use arose after the Neolithic advent of farming, beginning with the innovation of fermented alcoholic drinks (barley beer) about 13,000 years ago in Israel. "However, this theory fails to account for the possibility that very ancient drug-taking lies at the roots of our most commonly used psychoactive substances," Brumm said.
Brumm's investigation focused on the origins of betel nut use, a near-universal tradition among hundreds of millions of people between India and the South Pacific (about one in 10 of the modern global population). Consuming betel nut induces a sense of mild euphoria and heightened alertness, among other effects. "Although poorly known in Western societies, it is the world's fourth most widely used psychoactive substance, after alcohol, caffeine and nicotine," Brumm said.
Modern users take the betel drug by mixing a processed seed of the Areca catechu palm (the betel "nut") with slaked lime—commonly made by grinding burned shells into a fine powder—and other ingredients to form a "quid," which is then chewed to get high. "Slaked lime is an essential ingredient because it causes a chemical reaction that releases the nut's psychoactive compounds into the bloodstream more rapidly," Brumm said. The early history of this drug-use practice had remained uncertain, largely because areca seeds were rarely preserved at archaeological sites.
In the new study, published in Science Advances, the Griffith team reports the discovery of extremely rare skeletal remains of two early human foragers from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, one dating to 25,000–16,000 years ago and the other to 7,600–6,300 years ago. The remains of both hunter-gatherers display a highly unusual dental-wear pattern (deep, rounded tooth grooves), a novel bioarchaeological marker the researchers established was caused by a previously unknown drug-use behavior: habitual sucking of whole betel nuts. Previous reports suggested the main neuroactive alkaloid in betel nut (arecoline) was released by chewing the processed nut in a prepared quid with slaked lime, with the latter converting arecoline into a free-base form, thereby increasing its bioavailability.
"But our team conducted experiments in which we soaked betel nuts in artificial saliva and tested the resulting broths against a panel of cloned human receptors expressed in frog egg cells, including specialized proteins that act as molecular switches, regulating neural activity," Brumm said. "This showed that just sucking on intact betel nuts will release arecoline in sufficient amounts to have a physiological effect, altering brain function." In addition, biochemical analyses carried out by Matheson detected the presence of arecoline in the dental tissues of the foragers, providing strong evidence for betel nut ingestion. Taken together, the findings suggest early foragers in Sulawesi engaged in an ancient and longstanding practice of habitually sucking betel nuts, resulting in dramatic alterations to their teeth.
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