Cocaine and metabolites in the hair of ancient Peruvian coca leaf chewers

Springfield, Angela; Cartmell, Larry; Aufderheide, Arthur C.; Buikstra, Jane E.; Ho, Joyce C.

doi:10.1016/0379-0738(93)90280-n

Cited by 77 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Centuries after their death, arsenic was detected in hair from the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte 47 and cocaine in the hair of Peruvian mummies. 48 The stability of drugs in hair is dependent on the morphology and physicochemical properties of hair. Diffusion of drugs, in the presence of water, into and out of hair provides a route for external contamination or loss of drug concentration.…”

Section: Drug Stabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Hair testing is taking root

Cooper

2011

Ann Clin Biochem

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An increasing number of toxicology laboratories are choosing to expand the services they offer to include hair testing in response to customer demands. Hair provides the toxicologist with many advantages over conventional matrices in that it is easy to collect, is a robust and stable matrix that does not require refrigeration, and most importantly, provides a historical profile of an individual's exposure to drugs or analytes of interest. The establishment of hair as a complementary technique in forensic toxicology is a direct result of the success of the matrix in medicolegal cases and the wide range of applications. However, before introducing hair testing, laboratories must consider what additional requirements they will need that extend beyond simply adapting methodologies already validated for blood or urine. Hair presents many challenges with respect to the lack of available quality control materials, extensive sample handling protocols and low drug concentrations requiring greater instrument sensitivity. Unfortunately, a common pitfall involves over-interpretation of the findings and must be avoided.

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Section: Drug Stabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Hair testing is taking root

Cooper

2011

Ann Clin Biochem

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“…Advances in the chemical analysis of archaeological hair, including validation of mtDNA evidence (19), serial isotopic measurements (20)(21)(22), and drug testing (23), offer valuable avenues of archaeological investigation. Although the established use of stable isotopes in archaeology as diet and locational indicators frequently uses bone collagen or tooth enamel, bone is constantly remodeled throughout life, presenting an averaged dietary measurement, whereas tooth enamel represents the childhood signature.…”

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confidence: 99%

Stable isotope and DNA evidence for ritual sequences in Inca child sacrifice

Wilson

Taylor

Ceruti

et al. 2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

150

130

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Four recently discovered frozen child mummies from two of the highest peaks in the south central Andes now yield tantalizing evidence of the preparatory stages leading to Inca ritual killing as represented by the unique capacocha rite. Our interdisciplinary study examined hair from the mummies to obtain detailed genetic and diachronic isotopic information. This approach has allowed us to reconstruct aspects of individual identity and diet, make inferences concerning social background, and gain insight on the hitherto unknown processes by which victims were selected, elevated in social status, prepared for a high-altitude pilgrimage, and killed. Such direct information amplifies, yet also partly contrasts with, Spanish historical accounts.ancient DNA ͉ bioarchaeology ͉ South America ͉ stable light isotopes ͉ ice mummies

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“…The ability to detect drug use via identification of alkaloids from human remains has generally been limited to hair (e.g., Echeverría and Niemeyer, 2013;Springfield et al, 1993;Wilson et al, 2013) and coprolites (Reinhard et al, 1991). Unfortunately, hair and coprolites are rare in the archaeological record and only preserve under unusual circumstances, such as in highly arid or frozen environments, or in caves.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dental calculus as a source of ancient alkaloids: Detection of nicotine by LC-MS in calculus samples from the Americas

Eerkens

Tushingham

Brownstein

et al. 2018

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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A B S T R A C TDental calculus has been shown to be a repository of a variety of exogenous organic materials, including bacterial DNA, proteins, phytoliths, and starch grains. Here we show that certain alkaloids, nicotine in this case, can also be trapped and preserved in ancient dental calculus. We present Ultra-Performance Liquid ChromatographyMass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS) results of analyses of ten archaeological calculus samples from eight individuals from Central California. Two samples tested positive for the presence of nicotine, including one from an individual buried with a pipe. UPLC-MS analyses of dental calculus could provide an alternative means to trace the spread and consumption of tobacco and other plants with distinctive alkaloid products in ancient societies. As shown here for the first time in ancient samples, the ability to detect nicotine alkaloids in calculus has enormous potential to help us better understand the consumption of intoxicant plants by ancient humans on the individual level, for example by giving us the ability to test assumptions about the age, sex, and status of individual tobacco users in the past.

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Cocaine and metabolites in the hair of ancient Peruvian coca leaf chewers

Cited by 77 publications

References 8 publications

Hair testing is taking root

Hair testing is taking root

Stable isotope and DNA evidence for ritual sequences in Inca child sacrifice

Dental calculus as a source of ancient alkaloids: Detection of nicotine by LC-MS in calculus samples from the Americas

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