Researchers have uncovered evidence that the coca plant, from which cocaine is derived, was used in Europe as a drug as early as the 1600s. This discovery pushes back the timeline for introducing this potent plant to Europe by nearly two centuries. The findings come from a forensic analysis of human remains found in a 17th-century hospital crypt in Milan. Toxicology revealed the presence of coca alkaloids in preserved brains.
South Americans have been chewing on the leaves of the coca plant for thousands of years. Mostly likely, they did it for the plant’s stimulating effects, which helped them combat fatigue and hunger. Coca leaves contain alkaloids that act as stimulants, providing a sense of increased energy and alertness.
The practice was particularly common among indigenous communities living at high altitudes, where the leaves helped them adapt to the challenging environment by improving endurance and reducing the discomforts associated with thin air and cold temperatures. Beyond that, coca leaves held cultural and spiritual significance. They were used in various rituals and traditional medicine — but Europeans had different ideas.
In the 19th century, Europeans figured out that the plant could be processed to make cocaine hydrochloride salts. Thus, they created a much more potent mind-altering drug that has since become a popular recreational drug worldwide.
However, looking at this study, the timing doesn’t fit. The samples studied here come from the 17th century, some 200 years earlier.
Cocaine Brains
The team studied the remains of people entombed in the Ca’ Granda crypt, a hospital crypt. The hospital in question, Ospedale Maggiore in Milan, was one of Europe’s leading medical facilities during the Renaissance. It provided care to the city’s impoverished and marginalized populations. Buried beneath the Church of the Beata Vergine Annunciata, in this crypt thousands of deceased patients were interred.
Recent excavations have unearthed well-preserved human remains, including bones and brain tissue. This provides an excellent opportunity for researchers to study the medical and social histories of 17th-century Milanese society. The Ca’ Granda crypt, with its 14 underground chambers, houses approximately 2.9 million bones from over 10,000 individuals who died at the hospital in the 17th century — which makes it one of the most important archaeological troves of the period.
The team analyzed preserved human brains, which still contained noteworthy substances. The scientists found traces of cocaine, benzoylecgonine (an inactive metabolite of cocaine), and hygrine, all associated with the Erythroxylum coca plant. There’s little room for interpretation — the findings don’t hint at just exposure, but consumption.
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Furthermore, the researchers analyzed the hospital records and found no mention of coca usage as a treatment, so the patients were essentially taking the drug for its mind-altering properties. The hygrine is significant because it is found only in coca leaves, not in the cocaine hydrochloride salts synthesized later. This finding provides strong evidence that the individuals chewed coca leaves, a practice well-documented among Andean populations but previously unverified in Europe.
The two individuals studied were buried in a location that suggests they were not well off. This would suggest that the drug was affordable and available even for the poor.
But where did it come from?
Who Brought the Coke?
Milan, at the time, was controlled by the Spaniards. The Spaniards were also the dominant force in trade with the Americas and introduced coca to Europe. Despite historical accounts that emphasize their focus on more lucrative commodities like silver, gold, and tobacco, this study suggests that coca might have quietly crossed the Atlantic much earlier than previously thought.
This is all the more curious because coca leaves were notoriously difficult to transport. They don’t keep well and the Spanish knew this very well. Deteriorating leaves couldn’t be used and there are virtually no historical mentions of this type of trade.
These findings also challenge historians and archaeologists to reconsider the scope of drug use in early modern Europe. If coca was indeed available and consumed in 17th-century Milan, how widespread was its use? Was it confined to medical purposes, or did it also serve recreational or ritualistic roles? Was the drug common but simply frowned upon and ignored? And if coca was present, what other “exotic” substances from the New World might have found their way into European hands far earlier than documented?
Ultimately, the researchers call for more research in other places to assess whether traces of coca can be found. To solve this type of archaeological puzzle, it’s important to combine multiple lines of evidence (historical, toxicological, archaeological). The interplay between these disciplines can challenge long-held assumptions and give us a more nuanced understanding of our collective history. Who knows what other surprises we’ll find?
Journal Reference: Gaia Giordano et al, Forensic toxicology backdates the use of coca plant (Erythroxylum spp.) in Europe to the early 1600s, Journal of Archaeological Science (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2024.106040