We come today with great news from a team of researchers at the University of Vermont who present us with their evidence that the cannabis plant evolved 28 million years ago in a specific area of the Tibetan Plateau.
The study aimed to establish the oldest common ancestors of the cannabis plant. The researchers were analyzing wild-type plant distribution data, which included “155 studies of fossil pollen.”
They went to great lengths to determine the unknown origins of the modern cannabis plant, but finally, they have revealed that it thrived in arid, steppe-like conditions. These were caused by the tectonic formation of the Tibetan plateau. In the northeast in the vicinity of Qinghai Lake. Giving an approximate data of 28 million years!
In itself, it means that this co-locates in the first steppe community to evolve in Asia. Although cannabis pollen is visually similar to hop pollen, the researchers were able to distinguish the two species. They tell us that hops and cannabis shared a common ancestor.
The ancient cannabis
From the Tibetan plateau, cannabis reached Europe approximately 6 million years ago, and for thousands of years cannabis migrated around the world. Through Africa, it reached South America in the 19th century, penetrating the United States in the early 20th century.
After 28 million years of growth and almost 30 thousand years of probative use by humans. Humans have used cannabis plants for at least 27,000 years. And this new study provides us with a more determined understanding. Not just “when” did the first cannabis plants evolve. Also “when” humanoids began using them as medicines and in ritual settings.
This psychotropic and medicinal plant was long thought to have evolved in central Asia for the first time, scientists were unsure of the exact location.
The site of cannabis origin is only a few hundred kilometers from the Baishiya Karst cave. Researchers recently announced that it was once inhabited by an ancient relative of Homo sapiens: Denisovans.
DNA tests show that a jaw found in this Tibetan cave came from a Denisovan. This shows that the species was more widespread than had been known. Now the oldest traces of cannabis have been found in that same area or its surroundings .
And cannabis was strictly illegal all this time. However, the beginning of this century has seen these laws collapse under pressure from the American people and other countries around the world. The legalization of marijuana is literally spreading across the globe.
