Similar Stories to Earliest Evidence Of Tobacco Used By Hunter-gatherers In The Us West 12,000 Years Ago, Discovered By Archaeologists on Bing News

Archaeologists unearth an ancient hearth, containing four charred tobacco seeds, in northern Utah on October 11, 2021. Sarah K. Rice/Handout via REUTERS Archaeologists in Utah discovered four charred seeds of a wild tobacco plant in northern Utah. This is the earliest documented evidence of human tobacco use, dating back over 12,000 years. The researchers believe that hunter-gatherers may have used tobacco during food preparation. Archaeologists in Utah have unearthed a piece of evidence that suggests that the early inhabitants of North America were using tobacco around 12,300 years ago, Reuters reported.The discovery of four charred tobacco plant seeds in an ancient hearth - a manmade fire pit -suggests that humans may have used the addictive plant some 9,000 years earlier than previously thought.Up until now, according to the BBC, the earliest documented evidence of human tobacco use was a 3,300-year-old smoking pipe discovered in Alabama.Researchers from the Far Western Anthropological Research Group and the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center came across the evidence at the Wishbone site, an ancient camp in northern Utah's Great Salt Lake Desert, near Salt Lake City, Reuters said.Around the pit of the hearth, researchers found stone artifacts, bones from waterfowl and an unidentified mammal, and spear tips.