Overview
- Yale’s Ancient Pharmacology Program identified noscapine, hydrocotarnine, morphine, thebaine, and papaverine in residue from an ancient calcite/alabaster vase, providing the clearest chemical evidence of opium in such Egyptian-made vessels.
- The 22-centimeter vase is inscribed to Xerxes I in Akkadian, Elamite, Persian, and Egyptian and is among fewer than ten intact inscribed alabaster vessels known worldwide.
- Researchers say the finding, alongside earlier opiate residues from a New Kingdom merchant tomb at Sedment, suggests use that spanned centuries and social classes.
- The team applied specialized residue-chemistry methods designed to recover degraded organics from legacy museum artifacts despite contamination challenges.
- Citing Alfred Lucas’s 1933 notes of dark, aromatic substances in Tutankhamun’s alabaster jars now at the Grand Egyptian Museum, the authors propose testing those contents to clarify opium’s role in ancient life.