Analysis of skeletal remains from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi has revealed what may constitute the oldest documented evidence of human consumption of mind-altering substances. Two pre-agricultural foragers, one dating to approximately 7,000 years old and another between 16,000 to 25,000 years old, displayed distinctive patterns of dental wear that researchers attribute to sustained contact with hard, abrasive betel nuts.
Both individuals exhibited deep, rounded grooves worn into their tooth surfaces, some penetrating deeply enough to expose the dental pulp. Researchers theorize that the foragers habitually held and sucked on betel nuts, which are the seeds of the Areca catechu palm. Betel nuts rank as the world’s fourth most widely used psychoactive substance after alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine, with approximately one-tenth of the global population consuming them today, primarily throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Scientific examination revealed traces of arecoline, a psychoactive compound, in the tooth tissues of the ancient foragers. When researchers soaked betel nuts in artificial saliva, the liquid rapidly accumulated sufficient concentrations of arecoline to produce a psychological effect, though milder than the intensity achieved through chewing the nuts with slaked lime, a practice that developed later. The scientists propose that the initial motivation for nut-sucking may have involved numbing effects to address tooth pain, though this practice ultimately created a counterproductive cycle in which the abrasive nuts caused severe dental damage that intensified the very discomfort they were meant to alleviate.
The findings, published in Science Advances, extend the known history of psychoactive substance use considerably. Previously, the oldest documented traditions of drug consumption involved fermented beverages such as barley beer, dating back approximately 13,000 years. Researchers note that while humans likely encountered and experimented with mind-altering plants throughout prehistory, this discovery provides direct physical evidence of such consumption practices from an exceptionally remote period.
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