Betel nut has been used for thousands of years: traces of psychoactive substances found on human teeth dating back 6,300–25,000 years
Dental analysis reveals that ancient Indonesian hunter-gatherers regularly consumed betel nuts, indicating that the use of psychoactive substances predated the advent of agriculture by a considerable margin.
The use of psychoactive substances by humans dates back further than previously thought and predates the advent of agriculture by a considerable margin: this is demonstrated by the traces found on the teeth of two Indonesian hunter-gatherers who lived between 25,000 and 6,300 years ago and who regularly consumed betel nuts – or areca nut/seed – the seed of a palm tree considered the fourth most widely used psychoactive substance in the world after alcohol, caffeine and nicotine.
The discovery has been published in the journal Science Advances by researchers from Griffith University in Australia in collaboration with Indonesian archaeologists from Hasanuddin University in Makassar and the National Agency for Research and Innovation.
The study focused on the origins of betel nut use, a tradition shared by hundreds of millions of people across India and the South Pacific (roughly one in ten of the current world population).
Consuming the nutinduces, amongst other effects, a sense of mild euphoria and increased alertness.
Modern users consume it mixed with slaked lime (obtained by finely grinding burnt shells) and other ingredients to form a “bolo” (quid), which is chewed to achieve psychoactive effects.
