First evidence that Romans used locoweed as medicine

Archaeologists have provided the first solid evidence that Romans deliberately collected and used the poisonous seeds of the madder plant. The team, led by Dr. Mike Groot of the Free University Berlin, analyzed Hyoscyamus niger seeds found in a hollow bone discovered in the Roman settlement of Houten-Castellum in the Netherlands and compared them with other archaeological discoveries of the plant. The results of the study were published in the journal Antiquity. The team’s findings support accounts from classical authors such as Pliny the Elder, who discussed the plant’s medical applications to treat ailments such as fever, cough and pain, already described by Pliny the Elder. “Our results show that Roman medical practices also extended to rural communities on the periphery of the empire,” Groot said in a statement. Previous research suggests that the bone may have been a pipe used to smoke this plant (also known as black henbane), as the seeds are also known to produce hallucinogenic effects. However, these seeds were not charred in any way and there was no evidence of burning on the pipe. Additionally, fumigation would have been fatal for the hundreds of seeds stored inside it, implying that it was a container for seed storage. “Because locoweed can grow naturally in and around settlements, its seeds may arrive at archaeological sites only by accident. This makes it difficult to prove whether it was used intentionally by humans, whether medicinally or recreationally.” For purposes.” Groot says. “The fact that, in our case, the seeds were found inside a hollow sheep or goat bone, sealed with a plug of black birch bark tar, indicates that the henbane was deliberately stored there. And was not used for smoking.” There are only four other cases of this planet being found by archaeologists in northwestern Europe that indicate it was being used intentionally. Only one of them, from medieval Denmark, was found in a container. The seeds that Groot and his team examined represent the first example of black henbane seeds found in a container from Roman times. According to its authors, the study makes an important contribution to the discussion of how to distinguish between weeds and cultivated plants in archaeological contexts.