The evidence has been mounting for years that Neanderthals used tobacco. Now, scientists have found evidence people from the Stone Hedge smoked at least 12,000 years ago. Charred seeds unearthed in an old stove used in Utah by hunter collectors show that people had used tobacco even 12,000 years ago which is 9,000 years before it was first estimated and before farming had its roots in America.
“On a global scale, tobacco is the king of intoxicant plants, and now we can directly trace its cultural roots to the Ice Age. This species was never domesticated but is used by indigenous people in the region to this day,” declared archaeologist Daron Duke.
There is no question that humans would have tended, manipulated and managed tobacco at least casually long before the people were given incentives for food requirements that led to agricultural investment.
“Current archaeological research on cultigens emphasizes the protracted and intimate human interactions with wild species that defined paths to domestication and, with certain plants, profoundly impacted humanity,” reads the study.
The history of tobacco
The tobacco plant might be one of the world’s most important crops. It’s also a crop that’s changed the world, mostly for the worse.
Tobacco’s importance stretches back thousands of years. The leaves of the plant were once chewed and smoked by many cultures around the world, and in Africa, they were used to stuff into animal skins to make fire starters.
In 1400, Columbus discovered the Americas and introduced it to Europe. It wasn’t long before Europeans began to grow tobacco indoors, with fertile ground ideal for growing it. By 1600, tobacco was cultivated in at least 40 countries. Tobacco growing accelerated over the next two centuries, with tobacco plants being planted in fields, row after row, cultivated and harvested by hand.
Tobacco’s effects were felt around the world — the entire continent of South America developed from tobacco cultivation. The tobacco industry continued to expand to this day.
