Have you heard of Celtic Hemp? In a recently published\u00a0paper\u00a0in\u00a0Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research<\/em>, Dr. John M. McPartland and Saoirse E. O\u2019Sullivan trace hemp\u2019s prehistoric journey from Asia to Hibernia \u2014 now modern-day Ireland. Like much of Europe, cannabis arrived in Ireland when written records were scarce.<\/p>\n
The authors rely on archeological, linguistic, and pollen analyses as they document the migration of cannabis across Europe. Ancient pollen, extracted from mud, contains signals from cannabis\u2019s past. Seeds from crops and rare archeological artifacts provide additional clues attesting to hemp\u2019s intimate relationship with humankind.<\/p>\n
Thousands of years ago, the medicinal properties of cannabis were remarked in ancient texts. At this time, humans living closer to the plant\u2019s area of origin on the Tibetan plateau relied on fibers from cannabis stalks for textiles. By 400 BCE, humans left evidence of cannabis where Celtic culture is thought to have originated.<\/p>\n
The Birthplace of Celtic Culture<\/h2>\n
People of the Yamnaya culture, encompassing modern Ukraine, utilized cannabis crops earlier than the Celtic culture that emerged in Europe during the Iron Age (1200-550 BC). Cannabis fibers and water-logged seeds first appeared in Hallstatt, a region near modern Austria, which is considered the birthplace of the Celtic peoples.<\/p>\n
But the words used for cannabis and hemp were all borrowed from another culture. The lack of an ancestorial word for hemp or cannabis in Proto-Celtic implies that the inhabitants of Halsttatt spoke a language unrelated to early precursors of the Celtic lexicon.<\/p>\n
The Celtic people did not record their earliest history. Druids, religious figures in the Celtic political system, instead memorized large volumes of oral history.\u00a0<\/p>\n