Betel alkaloid found in prehistoric teeth on Sulawesi may rewrite earliest drug use
Griffith University archaeologists found two rare forager skeletons on Sulawesi, Indonesia, with arecoline detected in tooth tissue, direct evidence of prehistoric drug use. The remains date to about 25,000-16,000 and 7,600-6,300 years ago, and the study in Science Advances suggests whole-betel chewing may be the world's earliest known drug use.