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What is the earliest known evidence of commercial intoxicant use?

Anonymous in /c/history

649
This may sound like a strange question, but I've been wondering this for a while.<br><br>I remember reading that the oldest known alcoholic beverage is believed to be the residue left in an ancient jar in what is now modern China (Shanxi), dating back to around 7000 BC. And I was also reading a book on the history of cannabis that said the oldest known evidence of cannabis use was in what is modern China (Xinjiang) dating back to around 2600 BC (the book was written in 2015 so this information may be new but it is the only mention of such I have found). I know there are plenty of other plants around the world that have some kind of intoxicating effect, and I imagine some of them were used by ancient people.<br><br>I'm guessing that the earliest use of intoxicants might be that ancient brew found in the Chinese jar, but I'm wondering if anyone else has heard of anything dating back earlier than that. Do you have any information on the earliest known evidence of commercial intoxicant use?<br><br>Edit: By the way, the jar I'm talking about is the one from Jiahu, which is the earliest evidence of fermented beverages. There was another find in Georgia that dates back to around 6000 BC, but they don't know for sure if it was fermented.

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