# egyptian marajuana? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2001, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-marajuana/48620 "2001-01-05T20:55:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-marajuana/48620/1 "2001-01-05T20:55:59Z")
Is it true that in the ancient dig sites in Egypt they found traces of marajuana even though it is believed that there wasn’t any of this plant in the world exept for in South America? If true does this point to there being an ancient connection between the Egyptians and the Indians of the Americas? Also, is there a link between the pyramids in Egypt and those in the Americas? Please e-mail me back with your response ( [cs302b@yahoo.com](mailto:cs302b@yahoo.com)). ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-marajuana/48620/2 "2001-01-05T21:20:55Z")
For one thing, please note the correct spelling of mar **i** juana. For another thing, the plant is native to Central Asia, so your notion > [@](#): > > that there wasn’t any of this plant in the world exept for in South America? is unintelligible. It’s possible that trade routes could have carried it from Central Asia through Persia and the Middle East to Egypt at an early period, though I have no idea if it actually happened and when. ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-marajuana/48620/3 "2001-01-05T21:49:59Z")
screw Egypt! Last I heard, the guy who found the marijuana traces in Egypt was checking out a pipe found in shakespeare’s house for residue. Any news, people? jb ---
**Author:** ![evilhanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-marajuana/48620/4 "2001-01-05T22:14:16Z")
You might be thinking of the so-called “Cocaine Mummies” of which there was a television special a few years ago. I think it runs on the Discovery Channel now and again. Here’s a transcript of the program: [http://www.uiowa.edu/~anthro/webcourse/lost/coctrans.htm](http://www.uiowa.edu/~anthro/webcourse/lost/coctrans.htm) Incidentally, the researcher also claims to have found nicotine as well. I won’t comment on the validity of the research except to remind that a lot of the mummies in museums today aren’t exactly from pristine sources. As to your other question about pyramids - that shape is not all that uncommon in cultures around the world. Heck if you make a big pile of anything, it will kind of look like a pyramid. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-marajuana/48620/5 "2001-01-05T22:23:47Z")
The OP is most likely referring to the alleged discovery of tobacco and cocaine residue in Egyptian mummies, since coca plants in ancient Egypt would indicate contact with South America. Most serious historians and scientists dispute the findings, and it’s extraordinarily unlikely that that there was was any such contact. Nevertheless, it hasn’t stopped cable TV (Discovery, I think) from occasionally running an incredulous British documentary on the subject. This looks like the transcript: [http://www.uiowa.edu/~anthro/webcourse/lost/coctrans.htm](http://www.uiowa.edu/~anthro/webcourse/lost/coctrans.htm)