Kaitlyn Duffy

Biology Lab 1615

Wednesdays at 4:00 PM
Summary of: Phytochemical and Genetic Analyses of
Ancient Cannabis from Central Asia
Introduction
Researchers in China were excavating the Yanghai Tombs,
an incredible 2500 tombs that contained people that were,
unintentionally, very well preserved. The deep graves and
extremely dry climate were the attributing factors to the
excellent preservation of the bodies. Originally that thought
that these tombs were made about 2500 years ago, but after
some testing, found the number to be closer to 2700 years.
While going through these ancient tombs, they found one,
that because fo his possessions, they believe to be a Shaman. At
the head and foot of where his body lay, there were woven
leather baskets filled with some sort of vegetation that was

thought to be Coriandrum sativum, a type of cilantro or Chinese

parsley. After some tests they found out that it was actually a
strain of Cannibis sativa, more commonly referred to as
marijuana. They found that this strain had THC,
tetrahydrocannabinol, which is the chemical that gives
marijuana psychoactive properties. They believe that they
would use this for medicinal and/or spiritual purposes. The
value in this is that this would be the oldest known record that
we have for marijuana being used medicinally.
Materials and Methods
For photomicrography they first used a light microscope
with a dry mount of the cannabis. They used both a lowpowered and a high-powered microscope with light coming
from above and below. There was also a camera in the
microscopes in order to take pictures on a micro level.
Phytochemistry methods, which are used in the study of
chemicals in plants, such as sonification, were also used.

Sonification, as defined by Dictionary.com, is when sound

waves are used to disperse, disrupt or inactivate biological
materials. They also did some genetic experiments with the
plants DNA to identify exactly what species of plant it was.
Results
Under the microscopes, they found that the cannabis was
still relatively green which was surprising considering its age.
They also found that the leaves were loose, meaning that it had
been ground up a bit. There were several traits of the plant that
implied that it was domesticated. After oxidative degradation
THC was found in the plant, meaning it was a strain of
cannabis, even though it didnt have the scent that marijuana
normally has. With that being said, it was actually a new
variation of cannabis that they had yet to come across.
Discussion
When they originally found the vegetation in the
Shamans tomb, they thought it was cilantro. After genetic

testing they discovered that it was Cannabis sativa, even

though it lacked the regular odor of marijuana, which was to be
expected with it being about 2700 years old. They found THC
in it, meaning that it has psychoactive properties to it. The
amount of THC found in this strain, was larger compared to
other samples of ancient cannabis, which suggested that these
were specifically bred and altered for their psychoactive
properties. Because of the large size of the buds and seeds,
along with the shape and color of the bud, implied that these
plants werent wild, but purposefully grown and cultivated.
The analysis done on artifacts found in the tomb proved that
they used the cannabis to make clothing and other goods as
well. Mainly, they discovered the oldest known form of
marijuana ever used medicinally, along with recreationally and
spiritually.

Works Cited
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2014.
Russo, Ethan B., Hong-En Jiang, Xiao Li, Alan Sutton, Andrea
Carboni, and Francesca Del Blanco. "Journal of
Experimental Botany." Phytochemical and Genetic
Analyses of Ancient Cannabis from Central Asia. N.p., n.d.
Web. 05 Nov. 2014.