Pubdate: Thu, 08 Aug 2002 Source: Hartford Courant (CT) Copyright: 2002 The Hartford Courant Contact: http://www.ctnow.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/183 Author: Associated Press Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) THRIVING DRUG TRADE 3,400 YEARS AGO JERUSALEM -- A thriving Bronze Age drug trade supplied narcotics to ancient cultures throughout the eastern Mediterranean as balm for the pain of childbirth and disease, proving a sophisticated knowledge of medicines dating back thousands of years, researchers say. Ancient ceramic pots, most of them about 5 inches long, have been found in tombs and settlements throughout the Middle East, dating as far back as 1,400 B.C., said Joe Zias, an anthropologist at Jerusalem's Hebrew University. The drugs were probably used as medicine, and the finds are helping researchers better understand how ancient people treated illness and disease. When turned upside down, the thin-necked vessels with round bases resemble opium poppy pods. If there was any doubt about what was inside, the round bases have white markings, designs that symbolized knife cuts made on poppies bulbs so the white opium base can ooze and be harvested, Zias said. The Mycenaean ceramics were analyzed with a procedure called gas chromatography that turned up traces of opium. Based on ancient Egyptian medical writings from the 3rd millennium B.C., researchers believe opium and hashish - a smokable drug that comes from the concentrated resin from the flowers of hemp plants - were used during surgery and to treat aches and pains and other ailments. Hashish was also used to ease menstrual cramps and was even offered to women during childbirth. The drugs are part of a medical record that shows the ancients were far more advanced than most people realize, Zias said, noting evidence that European people did cranial surgery as long as 10,000 years ago, while the Romans left records of 120 surgical procedures. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager