The Stoned Age is a quick trip back to prehistory to explore our oldest drugs and where they fit into the very fabric of being human. From “caveman meth” to mushroom-headed shamans, this episode looks at how we know prehistoric people used drugs—and why they mattered. Along the way, we dig into mummies, cave art, Neanderthals, and Mormonism.

Sources: 

• The oldest archeological data evidencing the relationship of Homo sapiens with psychoactive plants: A worldwide overview

• Direct evidence of the use of multiple drugs in Bronze Age Menorca (Western Mediterranean) from human hair analysis

• Late pleistocene exploitation of Ephedra in a funerary context in Morocco

• The dangers of the herb ephedra