Did Cannabis Use Trigger the Birth of Civilization

5,000 years ago, the mass migration of the Yamnaya people sowed the seeds for modern culture in both Europe and Asia — perhaps literally. Originally from the Pontic Steppe, the spread of the Yamnaya people forged early trade routes. That would later evolve into the famous Silk Road.

The descendants of the Yamnaya and those they traded with would develop into the earliest cultures in Eurasia. While scientists have attributed the success of the Yamnaya dispersal to their taming of wild horses and the advent of animal husbandry, the driving force behind such a dispersal has remained a mystery. What were they trading that would need the creation of such trade routes?

New evidence suggests that it may have been cannabis. Recently released evidence shows an increase in cannabis growing in East Asia that coincides with the Yamnaya migration. The argument is be made that the Yamnaya people used cannabis and their migration triggered widespread cannabis use throughout Eurasia.

To read more, check out the original article by Deej Sullivan on TheInfluence.

You can also read the original study here.