Researchers examining skeletal remains from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi have identified what may represent the earliest known evidence of human consumption of psychoactive substances. Two pre-agricultural forager skeletons, one dated to approximately 7,000 years old and another between 16,000 to 25,000 years old, displayed distinctive patterns of tooth wear inconsistent with normal use.
Both individuals exhibited deep, rounded grooves in their teeth that in some cases penetrated to the dental pulp. Investigators hypothesized that these markings resulted from prolonged contact with hard, abrasive objects held in the mouth. The research team suspected betel nuts—seeds from the Areca catechu palm—as the causative agent, based on the specific characteristics of the wear patterns and their round, hard composition.
To validate this theory, scientists soaked betel nuts in artificial saliva and detected arecoline, the psychoactive compound responsible for the nuts’ mind-altering effects. Analysis of dental tissue from the ancient foragers confirmed the presence of arecoline residue. Researchers noted that sucking on the nuts produces a numbing sensation and bitter taste, suggesting the foragers may have sought these effects, possibly as a remedy for dental pain, though ironically the practice itself caused severe tooth damage over time.
Betel nuts rank as the world’s fourth most widely consumed psychoactive substance after alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine, with approximately one-tenth of the global population using them today. Previous research indicated that organized traditions of psychoactive substance use began around 13,000 years ago with fermented beverages. The findings, published in Science Advances, extend the documented history of deliberate drug consumption significantly further back in human prehistory and establish betel nut use as a millennia-old practice with roots in the distant past.
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