Direct evidence of the use of multiple drugs in Bronze Age Menorca (Western Mediterranean) from human hair analysis

Human hair dated to Late Prehistory is exceedingly rare in the Western Mediterranean. Archaeological excavations in the Bronze Age burial and cult cave of Es Càrritx, in Menorca (Balearic Islands) provided some human hair strands involved in a singular funerary rite. This finding offered the opportu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2023-04, Vol.13 (1), p.4782-12, Article 4782
Main Authors: Guerra-Doce, E., Rihuete-Herrada, C., Micó, R., Risch, R., Lull, V., Niemeyer, H. M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/154/53/2421
631/1647/296
631/181/19/27
631/181/27
639/638/403
Alkaloids
Analytical chemistry
Archaeology
Atropine
Bronze Age
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
Drugs
Ephedrine
Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
Hair
Hair Analysis
High-performance liquid chromatography
Human remains
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Iron Age
Islands
Liquid chromatography
Local communities
Mass Spectrometry
Mass spectroscopy
multidisciplinary
Prehistoric era
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Scopolamine
Spain
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Summary:Human hair dated to Late Prehistory is exceedingly rare in the Western Mediterranean. Archaeological excavations in the Bronze Age burial and cult cave of Es Càrritx, in Menorca (Balearic Islands) provided some human hair strands involved in a singular funerary rite. This finding offered the opportunity to explore the possible use of drug plants by Late Bronze Age people. Here we show the results of the chemical analyses of a sample of such hair using Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS). The alkaloids ephedrine, atropine and scopolamine were detected, and their concentrations estimated. These results confirm the use of different alkaloid-bearing plants by local communities of this Western Mediterranean island by the beginning of the first millennium cal BCE.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-31064-2