Hemp in the Ancient Civilization

Hemp has been used by mankind for thousands of years. It is a member of the cannabis family that contains no psychedelic active ingredients an its use likely predates the earliest of records ever found - so it is safe to say that no one really knows who were the first people to use it.

The oldest finding dates back to more than 10,000 years ago to the land mass that is now Taiwan. Pottery was found containing hemp cord in an archaeological dig of an ancient village. The findings of the dig also suggested that hemp was grown as an agricultural crop there.

The scientist Richard Hamilton explained in his article on sustainable agriculture, published in the 2009 Scientific American Journal, that “Modern humans emerged some 250,000 years ago, yet agriculture is a fairly recent invention, only about 10,000 years old ... Agriculture is not natural; it is a human invention. It is also the basis of modern civilization.” This coincides with other scientific claims, such as those of Carl Sagan (1977), that hemp was likely to be the first ever plant to be cultivated on a large, agricultural scale, becoming the foundation of civilization due to its many uses.

Hemp was used by ancient civilizations as a source of food, textile and building fibers as well as its oil, much like it still is to this day. Ancient Chinese culture actually viewed it as a gift from a divine spirit, something to be treasured and used also used during religions ceremony.

It is from 4,000 BC onwards that we know hemp really came to be treated as a wonder plant. It was used in all aspects of life. Evidence has been found of it being a mainstream textile in 4,000 BC China and Turkestan; it was first recognized as a medicine in 2900 BC by the Chinese Emperor FU; it was seen to have cultural significance in ancient Hindu culture – there is no end to its use by our fore fathers.

As you can see, hemp was treated with the respect it deserves. Our ancient ancestors realized the use hemp had, and it resulted it becoming an important part of their civilization. It played such a prominent role in all aspects of life, that it is very that possible the world would now be a very different place without it. What would our ancestors have made clothes from, built with, medicated with and made so many every day items from without this easy to grow, wonder crop – times could have been harder than they already were.