drug

In northwestern Arabia's Tabuk province, blowing in the sands of a long-forgotten oasis, archaeologists have found the world's oldest known evidence for the ritual application of Peganum harmala, otherwise known as Syrian rue or harmal—a plant both psychoactive and medicinal. Used more than 2,700 years ago in funeral rituals, this humble desert shrub was once at the center of a complex healing and spiritual practice that has only recently come out of the shadows. Due to the power of modern biomolecular analysis and the cooperation of the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Vienna University, and Saudi Arabia's Heritage Commission, scientists have followed the residual chemical traces of this powerful plant, once smoked by Iron Age Qurayyah people in holy smoke