Researchers from Yale University discovered chemical traces of opiates in an ancient alabaster vase from the Peabody Museum, providing “the clearest evidence to date of widespread opium use in ancient Egyptian society.”

An article about the discovery was published in Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies. It suggests that similar vessels from the period, used to store perfumes and ointments, may also contain traces of opiates. By the way, they are called alabaster rather by tradition – in fact it is alabastronsmade from calcite.

“Our findings, coupled with previous research, indicate that opium use in ancient Egyptian culture and neighboring lands was not random or episodic, but was, to a certain extent, an integral part of everyday life. “We believe it is possible, if not likely, that the alabaster jars found in King Tut’s tomb contained opium as part of an ancient tradition of its use that we are only beginning to understand,” explains museum researcher Andrew J. Koe, lead author of the study.

Vase from the museum

The origin of the rare Egyptian alabaster vessels like the one studied that have survived intact—and with inscriptions—is generally unknown. They date from the reigns of the Persian kings Darius, Xerxes and Artaxerxes, which spans from 550 to 425 BC.

A vase with traces of opiates entered the museum’s Babylonian collection shortly after the university’s collection of some 40,000 ancient artifacts was founded in 1911.

The research team’s analysis of the dark brown aromatic residue in the jar revealed clear traces of noscapine, hydrocotarnine, morphine, thebaine and papaverine – “well-known diagnostic biomarkers of opium.”

The scientists say the findings echo the discovery of opiate residues in a group of Egyptian alabaster vessels and Cypriot ring-base jars found in an ordinary tomb, likely belonging to a family of merchants, at Sedment, south of Cairo. The burial belongs to the New Kingdom, an empire that existed from the 16th to the 11th centuries BC.

These two finds, separated by more than a thousand years and belonging to different socio-economic groups, strongly indicate that opium may have been present in the numerous alabaster vessels discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings, Ko believes.

He says there is clear evidence of ancient opium use that extends beyond purely medical use into the spiritual realm, a tradition stretching from ancient Mesopotamia to Egypt.

After the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in November 1922, where many alabastrones were found among other artifacts, chemist Alfred Lucas examined many of them in 1933. Although he was unable to identify the organic substances at the time, he determined that most of them were not incense or perfume.

Tutankhamun under suspicion

“We have now discovered chemical traces of opiates in Egyptian alabaster vessels, which were associated with elite societies in Mesopotamia and at the same time were part of everyday cultural life in Ancient Egypt. It is possible that these vessels were highly recognizable cultural markers of opium use in ancient times, much like hookahs are associated with tobacco smoking today. Analysis of the contents of the vessels from the tomb of King Tutankhamun could further clarify the role of opium in these ancient societies,” the researcher hopes.

We are “on the cusp of a complete rethinking” of the nature of ancient pharmacology and medical practice thanks to “new, interdisciplinary approaches that also offer hope for a better understanding of our own world today,” he added.