{"id":8283,"date":"2018-05-19T03:17:14","date_gmt":"2018-05-19T03:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/?p=18706"},"modified":"2018-05-19T03:17:14","modified_gmt":"2018-05-19T03:17:14","slug":"cannabis-used-to-grow-wild-in-europe-but-went-extinct-before-first-farmers-arrived-research-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/cannabis-used-to-grow-wild-in-europe-but-went-extinct-before-first-farmers-arrived-research-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Cannabis Used To Grow Wild In Europe But Went Extinct Before First Farmers Arrived, Research Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/cannabis-used-to-grow-wild-in-europe-but-went-extinct-before-first-farmers-arrived-research-finds\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>The growth of wild cannabis was rife in Europe during the Stone Age, but the plant disappeared from the continent before the first farmers had a chance to cultivate it, according to new research.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists have previously struggled to determine where the plant grew, as its similarity to the related common hop meant usual methods of studying pollen fossils had proved difficult.<\/p>\n<p>However, a group of researchers from the University of Vermont led by John McPartland now believe they may have solved the mystery, by examining what else was growing in the area.<\/p>\n<p>In a study published in the Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, the team concluded that if other ancient pollen collected from a location were from plants common on grassy steppes, the sample is likely to be cannabis.<\/p>\n<p>If other fossils suggest the area was woodland, it can be assumed the plant was a hop, the research states.<\/p>\n<p>The new theory led the team to re-examine samples of Stone Age fossil pollen from more than 470 sites across Europe, concluding cannabis was present on dry tundra landscapes during the period.<\/p>\n<p>However, when the first farmers set foot on the continent from the Middle East around 9,000 years ago, the plant was already beginning to disappear as the continent warmed.<\/p>\n<p>Mr McPartland said there was little evidence that these new farmers cultivated the plant.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t there they couldn\u2019t domesticate it,\u201d he told the New Scientist.<\/p>\n<p>However, Cannabis did return to Europe around 4,500 years ago during the Bronze Age, when pastoralists from the Eurasian steppe moved into the continent, bringing the plant with them.<\/p>\n<p>Best known in the modern would for its psychoactive properties, it was likely reintroduced onto the continent to be made into textiles.<\/p>\n<p>However, Mr McPartland said he believed it was possible that early European farmers did use cannabis as a drug, in societies where alcohol would not yet have been commonplace.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven muted psychoactivity would have been appreciated by people who did not yet have alcohol,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/420-news\/international-cannabis-news\/cannabis-used-to-grow-wild-in-europe-but-went-extinct-before-first-farmers-arrived-research-finds\/\">Cannabis Used To Grow Wild In Europe But Went Extinct Before First Farmers Arrived, Research Finds<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\">420 MAGAZINE \u00ae<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The growth of wild cannabis was rife in Europe during the Stone Age, but the plant disappeared from the continent&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/420-news\/international-cannabis-news\/cannabis-used-to-grow-wild-in-europe-but-went-extinct-before-first-farmers-arrived-research-finds\/\" class=\"read-more\">[Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/420-news\/international-cannabis-news\/cannabis-used-to-grow-wild-in-europe-but-went-extinct-before-first-farmers-arrived-research-finds\/\">Cannabis Used To Grow Wild In Europe But Went Extinct Before First Farmers Arrived, Research Finds<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\">420 MAGAZINE \u00ae<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1616,9,1,3],"tags":[4184],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8283"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}