Crossing Lines

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Italian researchers have found traces of cocaine and its metabolites in preserved brain samples inside a 17th-century crypt in Milan, challenging long-held assumptions about the drug’s spread across the European continent occurring only in the 19th century.

Instead, researchers say the find leads them to believe the use of the coca plant in Europe probably began two centuries earlier.

Scientists analyzed the remains inside the crypt of Ospedale Maggiore, a prominent Milanese hospital during the late Renaissance. Toxicological tests on nine brain samples revealed cocaine, benzoylecgonine and hygrine in two of the mummified corpses.

Hygrine is a substance specifically linked to the chewing of coca leaves, suggesting these individuals consumed coca in its natural form, likely as leaves or tea.

“We present, to the best of our knowledge, the first hard evidence regarding the use of the coca plant in Europe through archaeotoxicological analyses on human remains,” the researchers wrote in their paper published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

The coca plant, native to South America, has been used for thousands of years by Indigenous communities for its medicinal and recreational reasons, noted Popular Science.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, Milan was under Spanish rule, which maintained strong connections with South America through its sea trade. This connection likely facilitated the introduction of coca leaves to Milan despite the Spanish embargo on specific New World information and goods.

The team isn’t sure why the two individuals consumed the stimulant. The analysis showed the bodies belonged to people of modest means, hinting that they were consuming the plant for its appetite-suppressing effects or medicinal purposes, CTV News added.

“Whether coca leaves were used for recreational purposes, or rather for their reinforcing properties helpful for the population in their hard everyday life, is a topic that requires further debate,” the study notes.

The crypt, known as Ca’ Granda, holds nearly three million bones from around 10,000 individuals, providing a unique insight into life and death during the 17th century.

These findings add to a growing body of evidence that Ospedale Maggiore’s patients were exposed to a variety of substances. Previous studies detected traces of opium and cannabis in the same crypt.