Cocaine Mummies

In 1992 a German toxicologist was performing test on a 2500 year old mummy named Henut Taui. She was a priestess in the temple of Amun at Thebes and was buried in the Deir el-Bahari necropolis.



The toxicologist, Svetlana Balabanova, was performing test for opium to verify its use in religious ceremonies. But what she found was traces of coc aine and tobacco.

The hair of a 21st dynasty priestess, Henut Taui, was found to contain significant amounts of coc aine and nicotine. The implications of finding evidence of possible tobacco and coc aine use in the remains of a woman who died 2,500 years before Columbus were not lost on the doctor.

Clic ky

The type of test she used

Dr Balabanova used a hair shaft test which is accepted in a court of law as proof that a substance was consumed while the subject was alive. The sample is washed in alcohol to remove any environmental contamination and the washing solution itself is tested to make sure it is clear. This method is considered reliable enough to fire or even imprison people based on the results.

She took more samples and sent them to laboratories to confirm the findings.

She performed further tests to rule out contamination and sent samples to three different forensic laboratories who confirmed her findings. She carried out further tests on mummies from a wide variety of locations and dates and found that about a third of them showed results similar to Henut Taui.

Balabanova went on to test 134 additional mummies and bodies, including ones from Sudan, China, and Austria. One-third of them tested positive for nicotine and coc aine.

Even the mummy of Ramses was examined. Not only were tobacco and coc aine found in his body, but the nicotine was 35x that of an average cigarette smoker.

www.gaia.com... aine-mummies-henut-tauis-ancient-global-trade-network

The implications would mean that the ancient Egyptians had trade with the pre-Columbian Americas. The tobacco and coc aine plants are native to the Americas. The Egyptians are also not known for being sea faring people.

However, these findings are not without controversy. A few explanations include:

The results are from contaminated samples.

The remains are modern fakes, supplied by unscrupulous traders to meet the ever increasing demand of European museums.

There is no reference to either coc aine or tobacco anywhere in Egyptian records, it’s use is not depicted in any of the thousands of carvings and wall paintings.

The findings are controversial because while other researchers have also detected the presence of coc aine and nicotine in Egyptian mummies, two successive analyses on other groups of Egyptian mummies and human remains failed to fully reproduce Balabanova's results, and some showing positive results only for nicotine.[

Link

If the results are genuine, it could be possible that they had trade with the Americas through a third party. Dr. Balabanova believes that the most likely explanation is there were varieties of tobacco and coca plants native to Africa which have since become extinct.

a reply to: FauxMulder

There's also allegedly Roman amphorae off the coast of Brazil so there is further speculation that contact was made prior to the pre-Columbian period.

There is evidence that just about everyone was visiting the Americas before Columbus.

There is evidence that the Egyptians had gone as far as Australia...

Evidence is there, but not so well known.

They needed the extra energy to build pyramids as quick as possible, probably partied with it as well.

No wonder they all died so young.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

That's very interesting. The oceans hold so many mysteries. I found this part particularly interesting from your link.

In 1983, the Brazilian government, which had been cooperative up to that point, suddenly and without any real explanation denied Marx’s request for permission to further explore the area. In fact, they even went as far as to ban him from entering the country at all, citing the allegations that he had stolen numerous historical objects from shipwrecks all over the country, and with Guanabara Bay this would extend into a full ban on any underwater exploration by anyone whatsoever. The frustrated Marx then accused the Brazilian government of a cover-up, saying that they were trying to wipe out anything that would clash with the established known history of the country, and this was why no effort had ever been made to investigate the fishermen’s claims in the past. He even went as far as to accuse the Brazilian Navy of burying the jars and possible shipwreck in silt in order to keep them hidden, which they denied.

a reply to: FauxMulder

Your first two links don't work, but nicotine can be present in the body from other edible plants, with coc aine again a Tropane alkaloid found in the plant family Solanaceae like nicotine, so unless actual evidence of plants is found, and it won't be, tracing such substances is entirely pointless.

At a distance of 1600 miles (2575 km), Africa and South America are not really that far away for a decent ship and crew to sail, and take the lightest and most valuable cargo on board.

originally posted by: Moohide
At a distance of 1600 miles (2575 km), Africa and South America are not really that far away for a decent ship and crew to sail, and take the lightest and most valuable cargo on board.

It's not the journey there that is the issue, the trade wins can easily carry a ship from Africa to South America, it's the return voyage which would require sailing up to North America and then cutting across the Atlantic to northern Europe.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: FauxMulder

There's also allegedly Roman amphorae off the coast of Brazil so there is further speculation that contact was made prior to the pre-Columbian period.

It is possible but i don't buy it for the simple reason that one shipwreck is not evidence of anything. It could simply have been a trading vessel blown way off course. Roman ships went down the Atlantic side of Northern Africa, at least as far south as what is now Mauretania. A big storm blowing a ship into the Atlantic and you have big problems then. For one thing, Roman ships are not designed for Ocean going (big difference between the non tidal Mediterranean and a proper ocean like the Atlantic). Even in the Med, Roman ships stuck to coastlines as much as possible

a reply to: Madrusa

Try them again, I don't know why the BB code won't work.

originally posted by: Flavian
It is possible but i don't buy it for the simple reason that one shipwreck is not evidence of anything. It could simply have been a trading vessel blown way off course. Roman ships went down the Atlantic side of Northern Africa, at least as far south as what is now Mauretania. A big storm blowing a ship into the Atlantic and you have big problems then. For one thing, Roman ships are not designed for Ocean going (big difference between the non tidal Mediterranean and a proper ocean like the Atlantic). Even in the Med, Roman ships stuck to coastlines as much as possible

I'm not implying there was trade, merely contact.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

It is possible just not very likely. Roman ships struck for port at the first sign of bad weather because they were not good at heavy seas. Bad weather in the Med is completely unlike bad weather in the Atlantic and, lets be honest, heavy seas are pretty much the norm for the Atlantic Ocean.

I'd forgotten about the Cocaine Mummies. Certainly interesting and fires the imagination but hasn't it been thoroughly debunked over the years?

a reply to: Flavian

I'm aware of Roman seafaring practices however the issue of the amphorae is still open and has never been properly addressed. It appears, at least superficially, that contact was made in the 2nd or 3rd century based on the claimed findings.

a reply to: FauxMulder

The third still isn't, but what you might need to look at is the usage of Nightshade type plants in the Mummification process, they would contain Nicotine that may also have had a symbolic function.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Google Spanish Colonial Style Terracotta Jars

a reply to: Madrusa

That is covered in the link that's not working, of course.

Plants such as potatoes or tomatoes contain small amounts of nicotine and where they form a significant part of a person’s diet it is possible to build up a large enough residue in hair and tissue samples to show up in tests. Such an explanation however raises as many questions as it resolves as both plants originate in the New World.

this time it will work. First link

a reply to: FauxMulder

Drawing a line in the sand.

The pyramids were so rock, and roll.

originally posted by: Madrusa
Google Spanish Colonial Style Terracotta Jars

The pottery that Robert Marx was photographed with are not the same, they look like Roman amphorae.

The most stark evidence of Egyptian, South American contact are the reed boats used on Lake Titicaca. They both "might" have come up with using reeds for the building material but to come up with the exact style of build is something else. Now the question would be did it go East West or West East?

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

The design hasn't changed, what looks like a Roman amphora can also apply to Spanish or Portuguese wine/oil jars, without dating evidence i'd think those more likely to be found.

originally posted by: Madrusa
The design hasn't changed...

It has certainly changed, Roman/Greek amphorae have longer necks among other design differences.