Archaeologists Discover Cannabis Residues On 2,700-Year-Old Biblical Shrine Like many psychoactive plants, cannabis has been used as a spiritual sacrament by various cultures worldwide for thousands of years, and new research suggests that it may have facilitated communion with the gods in the biblical Kingdom of Judah. Rather than rolling up a sacred spliff or sucking on a biblical bong, however, it seems that worshippers mixed the plant with animal dung before setting it alight to release cannabinoids into the air. In a new study in the journal Tel Aviv , a team of archaeologists describe how they found cannabis residues on an Iron Age shrine known as the ‘Holy of Holies’, which dates back to around 750 BCE [i] . Located inside the fortress mound of Tel Arad, which guarded the Judahite kingdom’s southern border, the shrine was first excavated back in the 1960s, when researchers noted the presence of an unknown black substance on the surface of the altar. Using
