Cannabis timeline · before 500 CE
Ancient origins
6 milestones from c. 10,000–8000 BCE to c. 2nd century CE: earliest dated cannabis remains and domestication; the Atharva Veda names bhanga; cannabis residue at the Tel Arad shrine; and more.
c. 10,000–8000 BCE
Earliest dated cannabis remains and domestication
Cannabis fruits from a Japanese Early Jomon site date to about 10,000 years ago, and a 2021 genome study puts domestication in East Asia around 12,000 years ago.
The oldest remains and the place and date of domestication are still debated.
c. 1500–1000 BCE
The Atharva Veda names bhanga
An Indian hymn collection from the second millennium BCE lists bhanga, often translated as hemp, among its plants. Scholars debate whether it clearly means cannabis.
Whether bhanga means cannabis, and the date of the text, are both debated.
c. 800–700 BCE
Cannabis residue at the Tel Arad shrine
Chemical analysis of two altars at an 8th-century BCE shrine in Judah found cannabis compounds on one altar and frankincense on the other.
c. 500 BCE
Burned cannabis in Pamir mountain tombs
Wooden burners from tombs in the Pamir mountains carried chemical traces of cannabis burned in funeral rituals about 2,500 years ago.
c. 450 BCE
Herodotus describes Scythian hemp vapor
The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that Scythians breathed the vapor of hemp seed thrown on heated stones, in place of washing with water.
c. 2nd century CE
A Chinese herbal classic lists cannabis
A Han-era Chinese herbal classic lists cannabis as a medicine and warns that heavy use brings strange visions.
The text's date is debated, from the Han era to a legendary much earlier origin.
Written from the listed sources. Not legal or medical advice. Reviewed October 19, 2026.