With ever increasing confidence in the abilities of ancient civlisations to cross the oceans, Gavin puts his mind to one last can of worms which had to be split open. In 1992, a well-respected pathologist, Dr. Svetlana Balabanova, took samples of hair, bone and soft tissue from nine Egyptian mummies. In a one-page article in the German publication Naturwissenschaften she reported her astonishing findings of cocaine and hashish usage in all of them. A further eight showed the use of nicotine.
Her findings were immediately attacked, on the grounds that two of the substances found – inside a mummy nearly 3,000 years old – were derived from indigenous American plants; cocaine from Erythroxylon coca and nicotine from Nicotiana tabacum. The idea that there could have been any transatlantic contact between America and Egypt – not just before Columbus, but even before the birth of Christ – was obviously so ridiculous that the experts felt that actual scientific enquiry could be ignored. Balabanova stuck to her guns –
“… the results open up an entirely new field of research which unravels aspects of past human lifestyle far beyond basic biological reconstruction…”
How had the ancient Egyptians obtained cocaine and tobacco from the New World?
Further reading:
Naturwissen: http://www.springerlink.com/content/r45155796wlq5176/
The Mystery of the cocaine mummies:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-mystery-of-the-cocaine-mummies
American Drugs in Egyptian Mummies: a reply to the critics: http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~legneref/ethnic/mummy.htm
Archive of Cultural Exchanges: http://www.archivesofculturalexchanges.org/
Emeritus Professors Sorenson and Johannessen: World trade and biological exchanges before 1492:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0595524419/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=gavinnet06-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0595524419
Click here to see “A True History of Global Exploration” : Film
