Archaeologists Discover Weed-Wrapped Skeletons Of Ancient Stoner

Marijuana still remains to be a taboo in some states, but people have been using it far longer than modern civilization. In fact, while some people choose to be buried with objects that represent what they care about in life, an ancient skeleton uncovered in northwest China was wrapped in enough weed to for stoners to be proud.

According to Gizmodo, a team of archaeologists from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences were able to unearth a tomb in the 240-grave Jiayi cemetery near Turupan, where they found the body of a 2,400-year-old man with thirteen cannabis plants placed on top of him as some sort of burial shroud. They believed that the plants were grown locally, and other graves in the same area also contained evidence of marijuana leaves or seeds, suggesting that a few years ago, the town have been farming these plants.

There have been a lot of similar evidence of marijuana in grave sites in the surrounding region, however, this is the first time that scientists were able to see them used as shrouds, especially considering that the plants in the shroud had been harvested when they hit peak ripeness for THC.

In the journal Economic Botany, archaeologist Dr Hongen Jiang described the discovery as"extraordinary," noting that it provided new insight on the ritualistic use of cannabis in the prehistoric central Eurasia. The study also said that coupled with the other cannabis fragments found in the other tombs, it seems that the plant was used for ritual and/or medicinal purposes at the time.

The National Geographic also added that the tomb added to the evidence of cannabis being "very popular" in the Eurasian area during prehistoric times - especially considering that the burial ground where the body was found has been associated with the Subeixi culture (AKA Gushi Kingdom) which existed between 3,000 and 2,000 years ago. Combined with Tupan's desert lands also made it an important stop that explains the Silk Road links of China to the Western world.