A team of researchers from the University of Milan made a surprising discovery while analyzing centuries-old preserved brains found in a burial site in Milan.
As detailed in their study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, the scientists found evidence that people in 17th-century Europe were already chewing on the leaves of the coca plant, which are used to make cocaine.
The findings suggest that people in the continent were indulging in the drug far earlier than previously thought.
While people in South America have been known to chew on the energizing leaves of the coca plant for thousands of years, it’s the first evidence of the plant’s use in Europe before the 19th century, “backdating our understanding of the presence of the plant by almost two centuries,” according to the paper.
The team had previously discovered the mummified remains of two people in the Ca’ Granda crypt, a site that was used as a burial site throughout the 17th century, serving as the final resting grounds for patients who died at the nearby Ospedale Maggiore hospital.
While analyzing the bodies’ preserved brains, they found the active components of the coca plant in both of them, indicating they were chewing on the plant’s peppy leaves prior to their demise.
Interestingly, evidence suggests that the pair weren’t doing so as part of the treatment they were receiving at the hospital.
“Given that the plant was not listed inside the detailed hospital pharmacopeia, it may not have been given as a medicinal remedy but may have been used for other purposes,” the researchers note in their paper. For instance, the leaves may have been “chewed for their reinforcing properties or for recreational purposes.”
The manufacturing of cocaine hydrochloride salts, the white powder we usually associate with the drug, only really began in the 19th century, quickly becoming a popular recreational drug throughout Europe — including among the likes of Sigmund Freud.
But given the latest research, it looks like people in Europe were indulging in the drug far earlier than previously thought, highlighting some notable gaps in our knowledge of the plant’s distribution worldwide.
