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Ice Age Hunting Camp Found in Utah Desert


Still Waters

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In the dead-flat desert of northwestern Utah, archaeologists have uncovered a scene from a distant, and more verdant, time.

Just a few centimeters below the sun-baked surface, researchers have discovered a campsite used by prehistoric hunter-gatherers 12,300 years ago — when Utah’s West Desert was lush wetland.

Artifacts found at the site include the charred remains of an ancient hearth, a finely crafted spear point, and, most surprising, a collection of tobacco seeds — likely the earliest evidence of tobacco use ever found in North America.

http://westerndigs.org/ice-age-hunting-camp-replete-with-bird-bones-and-tobacco-found-in-utah-desert/

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I think chewing tobacco would be more accurate ... still some time yet before that first genius who discovered smoking and pipes ~

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Archeologist: "This primitive vase must be part of some ancient ritual to--"

Graduate student: "Looks like a spitoon."

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25 minutes ago, third_eye said:

I think chewing tobacco would be more accurate ... still some time yet before that first genius who discovered smoking and pipes ~

 

4 minutes ago, aquatus1 said:

Archeologist: "This primitive vase must be part of some ancient ritual to--"

Graduate student: "Looks like a spitoon."

 

Oh yeah thanks a lot. I had a cool visual and then the two of you had to go turn it into a western. :lol:

Edited by Clair
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In this context you bet. A bunch of hairy men grunting and spitting tobacco, wearing nothing but a loin cloth and cowboy boots doesn't quite meet the 'cool western' criteria.

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Nice find, SW.

I'm curious as to what the tobacco seeds were used for? Afaik, they are not suitable for smoking (or chewing) like the leaves, but maybe they were used in primitive medicines - such as poultices? I have read that tobacco was used as an antiseptic, so maybe that's why the ancient hunter-gatherers who occupied this site carried tobacco seeds with them?

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I think I remember some stories about Native Americans using tobacco seeds to treat earaches and tooth-aches.  I also remember something about them soaking leaves in water as a sort of primitive pest repellent, which I suppose could have been used for plants.  It's interesting that they were carrying seeds and large spear points.  Kind of makes me think that they might have been transporting the seeds somewhere.

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9 minutes ago, aquatus1 said:

I think I remember some stories about Native Americans using tobacco seeds to treat earaches and tooth-aches.  I also remember something about them soaking leaves in water as a sort of primitive pest repellent, which I suppose could have been used for plants.  It's interesting that they were carrying seeds and large spear points.  Kind of makes me think that they might have been transporting the seeds somewhere.

The original DHL? :huh::P

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There doesn't seem to be much in the way of information regarding the smoking of tobacco. Pipes have been found from as early as 2100 BC but those pipes may have also been used to smoking plant leaves as lot of those guys were into hallucinogenics. But there's some evidence Chileans had a nicotine habit from at least 100 B.C. to A.D. 1450.

Source  http://www.livescience.com/37845-chilean-mummies-reveal-ancient-nicotine-habit.html

 

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Perhaps there is another way ...
 

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The indigenous populations of Brazil were the first people known to have used ground tobacco as snuff.[2] They would grind the tobacco leaves using a mortar and pestle made of rosewood, where the tobacco would also acquire a delicate aroma of the wood.[2] The resulting snuff was then stored airtight in ornate bone bottles or tubes to preserve its flavour for later consumption.[2]

Snuff-taking by the Taino and Carib people of the Lesser Antilles was observed by the Franciscan monk Ramón Pané on Columbus' second voyage to the New World in 1493.[2][3] Friar Pané's return to Spain with snuff signalled its arrival in Europe that would last for centuries.[2]


 

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