The Cocaine Mummies

Cocaine is pretty prevalent in the modern world and it sort of seems like a timeless drug. The fact is that it hasn’t always been there and that’s why German scientists, who tested the remnants of Egyptian mummies, were so floored by the prevalence of the drug. Back in 1992 scientists were testing the chemical make up of Egyptian mummy remains. Inside the bones, skin, and hair of these embalmed people the scientists found evidence of cocaine and tobacco. These drugs weren’t in Egypt at the time as the drug was cultivated in the Americas. There has been no documented trading between the two communities so the scientists were understandably baffled. Where were these mummies getting their fix?