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Rameses II and the tobacco beetle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

P. C. Buckland  and
E. Panagiotakopulu
P. C. Buckland
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology & Prehistory, University of Sheffield, Northgate House, West Street, Sheffield S1 4ET, England
E. Panagiotakopulu
Affiliation:
School of Geography & Environmental Science, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, England
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Abstract

The use of a wide range of narcotic drugs in antiquity has been widely documented, although archaeologists have sometimes been too credulous of apparently scientific data, and have failed to appreciate the post-excavation histories of artefacts, including mummies. This paper examines the discovery of tobacco in the mummy of Rameses II, provides an alternative model for its origin, as a 19th-century insecticide used in conservation, and throws doubt upon the evidence for both cannabis and cocaine in ancient Egypt.

Keywords

Egyptnarcoticsinsecticidepost-excavation contamination
Type
Papers
Information
Antiquity , Volume 75 , Issue 289 , September 2001 , pp. 549 - 556
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2001

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