Skip to main content
Ref ID: 25699
Ref Type: Book Section in a Series
Authors: Derham, B.
Title: Archaeological and ethnographic toxins in museum collections
Date: 2004
Source: Impact of the environment on human migration in Eurasia
Place of Publication: Boston
Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers
Abstract: The analysis of amorphous organic residues from archaeological and ethnographic collections provides direct evidence for the use of natural materials, which can help enrich interpretations of past societies. The value of this approach is increasing, driven by advances in extraction and analytical techniques that permit the analysis of an ever-wider range of compounds. However these approaches have not yet been targeted towards toxins based upon natural plant based poisons and narcotics. This paper will present the outline of a chemical analysis based approach to identifying trace residues associated with hunting poisons and sacred hallucinogens as well as poisons of a purely harmful nature. The successful exploitation of potentially lethal natural toxins can be taken as representative of the great ingenuity shown in man’s adaptation to the environment.
Date Created: 6/26/2008
Editors: Scott, E. Marian
Alekseev, Andrey Yu.
Zaitseva, Ganna
Page Start: 185
Page End: 197
Series Title: NATO Science Series IV: Earth and Environmental Sciences