This Man Was Buried With a Cannabis Shroud 2,500 Years Ago

If you're lucky enough, you'll get to choose how you leave this world. I don't mean how you die, but how your remains are treated, interred, or otherwise consecrated.

Some 2,500 years ago, in the deserts of China's Turpan Basin, someone decided to lovingly shroud a man's remains with marijuana. Archaeologist Hongen Jiang and several other colleagues discovered the ritual burial, and described the tomb as an "extraordinary cache of ancient, well-preserved Cannabis."

According to Jiang's findings, which were detailed in Economic Botany last month, thirteen cannabis plants were gently placed across the 35-year-old man's body, in a seemingly deliberate fashion. The plant stalks, which were nearly intact (most of their flowers had been clipped off), were arranged diagonally over the deceased person's chest. A wooden bed and reed pillow were also identified in the tomb.

Researchers suggest this funeral ritual, which occurred between 2,400 to 2,800 years ago, could offer evidence that cannabis played a significant role in early Eurasian steppe cultures.

"This unique discovery provides new insight into the ritualistic use of Cannabis in prehistoric Central Eurasia," the study notes. In addition to other cannabis artifacts in the region, Jiang's findings could "reveal that Cannabis was used by the local Central Eurasian people for ritual and/or medicinal purposes in the first millennium before the Christian era."

The weed man's remains were located in Turpan's Jiayi cemetery, which is "associated with the Subeixi culture (also known as the Gushi Kingdom) that occupied the area between roughly 3,000 to 2,000 years ago," National Geographic pointed out. The Subeixi permanently resided in Turpan as early as 3,000 years ago, in an area now known as China's Xinjiang Province.

Cannabis fragments have been unearthed at other Turpan and Eurasian sites, such as the tomb of a Gushi shaman, which boasted two pounds of the highly psychoactive stuff. Elsewhere, in Siberia, cannabis seeds dating to 3,000 BCE were found in kurgan burial mounds. And the Scythians, who occupied Eurasia for thousands of years, were noted by the Greek historian Herodotus to be quite fond of a little green.

As for why this region was such a hotbed for cannabis, it's been theorized that ancient trade corridors throughout Eurasia helped the plant spread and find new uses.

During the Bronze Age, a nomadic tribe called the Yamnaya poured out of Central Asia and into Europe, carrying caches of psychoactive weed with them. Researchers also attribute weed's proliferation to the "Hexi Corridor," a Bronze Age trade route that long predated the Silk Road.

But, as National Geographic noted, experts have never come across a cannabis "shroud" before, and Jiang suspects his findings are unique in that respect.

Whoever this man was, someone took care to ensure that his journey to the afterlife was an enjoyable one. Thanks to their pristine condition, Jiang concluded the cannabis plants were freshly and locally harvested during the late summer. How lovely.