A group of eighteen researchers in Xinjiang ((Xinjiang is considered an original source of many cannabis strains worldwide.)), near Turpan in northwestern China have found the world’s oldest marijuana stash! According to this article, the seven-hundred-eighty-nine gram (28.17 ounce) stash was buried next to a 45-year-old man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture. It was found to be about 2,700 years old, the oldest so far that could be tested for its properties.

The study was published this week by the British-based botany journal. The lead author was American neurologist Dr. Ethan B. Russo, also a full-time consultant for GW Pharmaceuticals. The company operates a cannabis-testing laboratory in England and allowed Russo use of the facility for tests on 11 grams of the tomb cannabis. “To our knowledge, these investigations provide the oldest documentation of cannabis as a pharmacologically active agent.”

The substance has been found in two of the 500 Gushi tombs excavated so far in northwestern China, indicating that cannabis was either restricted for use by a few individuals or was administered as a medicine to others through shamans, Russo said, It certainly does indicate that cannabis has been used by man for a variety of purposes for thousands of years.

Due to the dry conditions and ingredients in the soil, the stash was very well preserved – It was still green! It was put through a bunch of tests, including carbon dating and genetic analysis. Researchers say the marijuana was found to have a high content of THC, and was “clearly cultivated for psychoactive purposes.”

The stash was in a leather basket and in a wooden bowl, and was likely meant to be used by the shaman in the afterlife. Researchers could not determine whether the cannabis was smoked or ingested, as there were no pipes or other clues in the tomb.