Does North American grass have a Viking background?

It’s in the Karma Sutra – but did the Vikings play a role in grass cultivation in North America?

While cannabis is experiencing a major resurgence around the world as Canada, the US, Europe and other countries discover the plant and invest in research to unlock further medicinal benefits, it has long been part of global culture. The plant was first domesticated in East Asia around 12,000 years ago during the early Neolithic period. It is part of documented ancient history in prehistoric societies in Eurasia and Africa. It appears in China and the Middle East, and use spread throughout the Islamic Empire and into North Africa. It spread to the Western Hemisphere in the mid-16th century. And now there may be evidence of it in North America.

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Archaeologists excavating and analyzing a Viking settlement in Newfoundland have come across a substance that raises some lofty questions: cannabis. In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers published their findings on L'Anse aux Meadows, a site in northern Newfoundland, Canada, where Vikings landed and settled around the year 1000. Until now, scientists believed the Vikings only stayed at the site for a short time, but their work uncovered the possibility that the Vikings may have stayed there until the 12th or 13th century. And they may have had marijuana with them.

About 30 meters from the Viking settlement, a team of archaeologists excavated a peat bog. They found a layer of “eco-facts,” or “environmental remains that may have been brought to the site by humans.” This layer was radiocarbon dated to the early Middle Ages, and researchers discovered pollen from cannabis, a plant that is not native to the area.

The question is how the cannabis was consumed. Were the plant's fibers used to make clothing, or was it smoked for medicinal or perhaps recreational reasons? It could mean none of the above, said Paul Ledger, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Historically, marijuana was inhaled by Daoists who burned it in incense burners. So it was not only used in religious ceremonies, but also for medicinal purposes, such as relieving pain and other ailments. And in the Karma Sutra, it was used as a recreational activity. Given the harsh life of a marauding Viking, a little pain relief and relaxation was very valuable.

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Further research is being conducted to determine whether people from the Newfoundland region, rather than Vikings, could be responsible for the cannabis pollen. Viking researchers are curious about the discovery and will continue to investigate.