Files and links (2)
CC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Biomolecular archaeology reveals ancient origins of indigenous tobacco smoking in North American Plateau
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.115(46), pp.11742-11747
11/13/2018
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/111741
PMCID: PMC6243282
PMID: 30373836
Abstract
Chemical analysis of residues contained in the matrix of stone smoking pipes reveal a substantial direct biomolecular record of ancient tobacco (Nicotiana) smoking practices in the North American interior northwest (Plateau), in an area where tobacco was often portrayed as a Euro-American–introduced postcontact trade commodity. Nicotine, a stimulant alkaloid and biomarker for tobacco, was identified via ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry in 8 of 12 analyzed pipes and pipe fragments from five sites in the Columbia River Basin, southeastern Washington State. The specimens date from 1200 cal BP to historic times, confirming the deep time continuity of intoxicant use and indigenous smoking practices in northwestern North America. The results indicate that hunting and gathering communities in the region, including ancestral Nez Perce peoples, established a tobacco smoking complex of wild (indigenous) tobacco well before the main domesticated tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) was introduced by contact-era fur traders and settlers after the 1790s. This is the longest continuous biomolecular record of ancient tobacco smoking from a single region anywhere in the world—initially during an era of pithouse development, through the late precontact equestrian era, and into the historic period. This contradicts some ethnohistorical data indicating that kinnikinnick, or bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) was the primary precontact smoke plant in the study area. Early use likely involved the management and cultivation of indigenous tobaccos (Nicotiana quadrivalvis or Nicotiana attenuata), species that are today exceedingly rare in the region and seem to have been abandoned as smoke plants after the entry of trade tobacco.
Metrics
1 File views/ downloads
10 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Biomolecular archaeology reveals ancient origins of indigenous tobacco smoking in North American Plateau
- Creators
- Shannon Tushingham - Washington State University, Anthropology, Department ofCharles M Snyder - Department of Interprofessional Education, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38163Korey J Brownstein - Institute for Biological Chemistry, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164William J Damitio - Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164David R Gang - Washington State University, Biological Chemistry, Institute of
- Publication Details
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.115(46), pp.11742-11747
- Academic Unit
- Anthropology, Department of
- Identifiers
- 99900586062501842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article