Marijuana Shamanism

December 26, 2006
Global warming may be thawing out the planet and threatening the lives of us and a host of other living species, but some things of interest are popping up as well. In 2003, a mummy of what is believed to be a shaman was found in the northwestern part of China. According to a story in the Peoples Daily Online (China):

Chinese scientists are conducting laboratory work hoping to identify a 2,800-year-old mummy presumably of a shaman in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The well-preserved mummy of a seemingly Caucasian man with a Roman nose and deep-set eyes was unearthed from a cluster of ancient tombs in 2003 and research work has been going on ever since.
Archeologists found the mummy most intriguing because a sack of marijuana leaves was found buried alongside the corpse.
The mummy remains intact in its original outfit despite the passage of time: leather hat, heavy coat and boots, huge earrings of copper and gold, a turquoise necklace, a copper laced stick in the right hand and a bronze ax in the left, according to Li Xiao, head of the heritage bureau in Turpan.

There are a few interesting things here: the mummy is "seemingly Caucasian"; he has a "sack of marijuana leaves"; and most of the outfit sounds slightly out of place. However, regardless of these conundrums, I would like to bring the marijuana to the forefront. Here is just another example of how long this plant has been a part of the human experience. The presence of the plant with an ancient shaman (who probably used it in religious/healing rites) further points to its potential value as well.
May we all have the chance to know the usefulness of this ancient plant...