Drugs in ancient populations

Assessing individual systemic stress through cortisol analysis of archaeological hair

“…As well, hair does not remodel after formation and thus it preserves a linear incremental record of a variety of individual experiences, including the consumption of food and water, ingestion of toxic substances and production of hormones. On the rare occasions when hair is preserved in archaeological contexts, the nature of hair growth has been used for the biochemical reconstruction of seasonal dietary change (Knudson et al, 2007;White, 1993), drug use (Cartmell et al, 1991;Parsche et al, 1993), alcohol consumption (Cartmell et al, 2005) and geographic relocation (Wilson et al, 2007). Clinical isotopic research using linear hair segments has also shed light on the physiological and metabolic impact of pregnancy and nutritional deficiencies (Fuller et al, 2004(Fuller et al, , 2005Mekota et al, 2006), and this has also been demonstrated in archaeological hair (Williams, 2008).…”

Unique paleopathology in a pre-Columbian mummy remnant from Southern Peru—severe cervical rotation trauma with subluxation of the axis as cause of death

“…Paleohistochemical preparation of the samples followed previous descriptions [6] including the preparation of histochemical stainings (H&E, van-Gieson stain, Periodic acid Schiff's stain (PAS), Prussian blue stain) and immunohistochemical stainings for glycophorin-C (ZytomedVision, Berlin, Germany) for the identification of erythrocytes. A hair sample was investigated for the presence of cocaine, a widely used psychoactive drug in South American cultures, as previously described [7]. An additional hair strain of circa 9 cm length was used for the determination of stable isotope ratios, in particular δ 13 C and δ 15 N, as previously done [3].…”

Suitability of Immunohistochemistry for the Determination of Collagen Stability in Historic Bone Tissue

“…Pepsin purified material had in this study an amino acid composition succeeded in extracting an intact and even functionally active enzyme, the alkaline phosphatase, from a Ptolemeic mummy . Similarly, recent analyses have shown that other biologically active molecules, particularly pharmacologically active molecules, like tetrahydrocannabinol, are detectable in mummy tissues (Parsche, Balabanova & Pirsig, 1993b;.…”