HEBRARIUM
No altar. No myth.
Just pain — and a plant.
Not every ancient cannabis trace belongs to a shrine, a tomb ritual or a shamanic chamber. Some traces belong to ordinary suffering.
At the Laoguanshan Cemetery of the Han Dynasty in Chengdu, South China, archaeobotanical analysis identified more than 120,000 cannabis fruits — the largest statistically analysed quantity of cannabis fruit remains yet reported from a cemetery context.
The importance of the find is not only the quantity.
It is the context.
The researchers connected the plant remains with medical bamboo slips, the diseases of the tomb occupants and Chinese medical records. They concluded that the cannabis fruits were most likely used in a secular medical context: for severe uterine bleeding, lumbago and/or arthralgia.
For LIBERA HERBA, this is one of the quieter but deeper traces of the plant.
No sacred smoke. No dramatic altar.
No myth.
Just pain in the back. Pain in the joints. Bleeding.
A body asking for help.
Cannabis appears here not as a symbol, but as medicine kept close to daily life.
A plant beside ordinary pain.
Factual Note
A 2021 study in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology identified more than 120,000 cannabis fruits from the Han Dynasty Laoguanshan Cemetery in Chengdu, South China. The authors argue that the remains likely represent physical archaeobotanical evidence of medicinal cannabis use in a secular context, most likely for severe uterine bleeding, lumbago and/or arthralgia.
Laoguanshan Cemetery
Chengdu, South China
Han Dynasty
A cemetery where cannabis fruits, medical bamboo slips and evidence of the tomb occupants’ illnesses allowed researchers to discuss cannabis as part of secular medical practice rather than only ritual or religious use.
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The VADEMECUM is not just a book anymore. It is becoming a living archive of guides, tools, notes and practical plant knowledge.
Free member access. Join early. Keep the archive open.
The VADEMECUM is becoming a living archive of practical plant knowledge.
Free member access.