The ceramic vases were found in Canaanite tombs about 11 kilometers from Tel Aviv. According to Israeli officials, opium was used in funeral rites.
“The drug was probably intended to evoke the soul of the deceased, through an ecstatic process, and was used to help his loved ones contact him,” explained archaeologist Ron Beeri. “The remains we found were diluted—perhaps with water or wine—and poured into vases made in Cyprus and used in funeral rites.”
The discovery confirms archaeologists’ earlier hypotheses that opium played an important role in Middle Eastern cultures.