A recent residue analysis of the microscopic contents of a classic period Maya "tobacco flask" from the Kislak Collection of the Library of Congress found... evidence of tobacco! But that doesn't make the story any less interesting.
A Mayan vessel holds the first physical evidence of tobacco in the ancient culture. From the Kislak Collection of the Library of Congress. Photo courtesy the United States Library of Congress
The vessel illustrated in the picture above is what is sometimes called in the archaeological literature a "poison bottle" or "pilgrim's flask", but eventually linguistic research deciphered the hieroglyphs to read "the house of tobacco" on the exterior. And that's only a tiny tidbit of the whole tobacco story, which includes an ethnographic study of traditional healers in Peru, and another studying tobacco use among modern Maya groups.
Zagorevski DV, and Loughmiller-Newman JA. 2012. The detection of nicotine in a Late Mayan period flask by gas chromatography and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry methods. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 26(4):403-411.
By the way, the earliest date I could find for tobacco was in the Late Titicaca region, between 1500 and 1000 BC. If anyone knows of an earlier date, could you pass along a reference? Thanks...
Comments
Since many tobacco strains are extremely potent, they allow yet anotherl route of administration, topical. A decoction of tobacco is boiled down to a thick, dark liquid, then rubbed on the skin, where active ingredients are readily absorbed (a progenitor of the nicotine patch?).
The god depicted in Palenque’s Temple of the Cross is known locally by the Lacandon Maya (“Forest Maya) as “El Fumador,” the smoking god.
Portrayed with double plumes of smoke curling from his mouth, El Fumador is also the god of medicine and healing, a clear link to tobacco’s use as a therapeutic agent as well as a divinitory one.
Great points, thanks so much!