How would you prepare for battle? If you were a Germanic warrior from Northern Europe during the Roman period, you may have sniffed some narcotics.
A team of three Polish researchers, including archaeologist Andrzej Kokowski and two biologists from Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, has suggested that Germanic people of Northern Europe living outside of the Roman Empire used stimulants during war. Their findings, detailed in a November 26 study published in the journal De Gruyter, challenges the notion that only Mediterranean civilizations used narcotics in antiquity.
While both archaeological and historical sources testify that the ancient Greeks and Romans used narcotics such as opium, according to the study, there is no clear evidence to suggest that their contemporaries also engaged in this consumption (the ancient Egyptians, however, were sipping on psychedelics). This has led many scholars to conclude that Germanic tribes—sometimes referred to by the antiquated term barbarians (the Ancient Greek and Roman name for all foreigners)—did not use stimulants besides alcohol.
“We therefore asked ourselves whether the consumption of stimulants in the barbarian world of the Roman period was indeed absent,” the researchers wrote in the study. Since there wasn’t any direct evidence, they “decided to look for indirect clues.”
Said clues came in the form of 241 small objects attached to warriors’ belts in 116 Roman-period (roughly seventh century BCE to fifth century CE) archaeological sites in northern Europe, including in modern-day Germany, Scandinavia, and Poland. The objects are spoon-shaped artifacts with handles mostly between 1.57 and 2.76 inches long (40 and 70 millimeters) and small bowls or flat disks from 0.39 inches to 0.78 inches across (10 to 20 millimeters). Archaeologists unearthed them among other artifacts related to war.
Consequently, archaeologist Andrzej Kokowski and his colleagues hypothesized that Germanic warriors may have used the spoon-like objects to take stimulants with the aim of increasing exertion and reducing stress before diving into battle. Essentially, just another version of liquid courage.
“The warriors could have used these objects to measure the right dose to produce the desired effects and to reduce the possibility of an overdose,” the researchers wrote in a De Gruyter statement.
To strengthen this theory, the team analyzed the possible stimulants that Germanic tribes could have accessed either locally or via trade during the Roman era. The possible list includes poppy, hemp, hops, belladonna, henbane, and numerous fungi, all of which could have been taken as a liquid or powder, and may have also been used for medicinal and/or ritualistic purposes, according to the study.
“The use of agitation stimulants may have been far greater than had been assumed,” the researchers wrote in the study. They also suggested that Northern European people must have had significant knowledge and organizational abilities to secure and distribute the necessary substance types and quantities. Additionally, the demand for stimulants could have stimulated wartime economies (pun intended) during this time period in previously unknown ways.
Ultimately, the Polish researchers put forth a captivating hypothesis about the Germanic peoples’ potential use of stimulants when going into battle. After all, I wouldn’t say no to an extra boost if I was expected to go up against a Roman legionary soldier.
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