Archaeological discoveries shed new light on the martial practices of Germanic peoples from the Roman era. The latter interacted with the Roman Empire for several centuries, mainly from the 1st century AD until the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Sometimes to trade, but especially to wage war. Thanks to the objects they left behind, the Germans left us a wide open window on a supposed facet of their military strategy.
Miniature spoons, long enigmatic, potentially attest to the use of stimulating substances during their military campaigns. This is the work of a multidisciplinary team from the Marie Curie-Skłodowska University of Poland; published in the magazine Praehistorical Zeitschrift ; who have just proposed this interpretation.
Archaeological remains carrying a little-known history
Excavation campaigns carried out in ancient Germanic territories – Scandinavia, present-day Germany and Poland – have made it possible to exhume objects with unique characteristics : spoon-shaped instruments, whose precise dimensions vary between 4 and 7 centimeters in length, provided with a circular receptacle measuring 1 to 2 centimeters in diameter.
The analysis of 241 of these objects, from 116 distinct sites, reveals a recurrence in their arrangement and context of use. These utensils, systematically attached to men’s belts and with no apparent function, present a frequent association with military equipment.
The systematic presence of these objects in warrior burials and sacrificial sites linked to martial activities could be a clue that would explain their use. This spatial and contextual correlation suggests a use intimately linked to warrior practices, potentially as instruments for dosing and administering psychoactive substances.
“ The presence of this object in the warrior’s equipment suggests that the use of pharmacological substances to increase resistance to stress and fatigue was a widespread practice among fighters. », Explain the researchers in their study.
An ancestral practice inscribed in historical continuity
The use of psychoactive substances in a martial context is not surprising; it is even a centuries-old traditionthe most documented manifestations of which appear in the 20th century. The massive use of cocaine during the First World War and the systematic use of amphetamines and methamphetamines by both Axis and Allied forces during the Second World War are, today, no longer a secret.
In history more recent225 million stimulant tablets (including Dexedrine) to American troops between 1966 and 1969 were distributed during the Vietnam War. Amphetamines, the drugs of choice at the time (and still today), were believed to increase alertness, reduce fatigue, and improve soldiers’ ability to concentrate for long periods of time. The current Russian-Ukrainian conflict is no exception either, with some Russian troops being sent to the front under the influence of amphetamines. Military history is absolutely inseparable from the use of psychoactive substances even if this link is often minimized, even hidden.
This diachronic perspective allows us to understand the Germanic archaeological remains from a new angle: the barbariansas the Romans liked to call them, were perhaps under the influence during their battles. If this practice turned out to be real, they sure had something to do on hand.
A rich natural pharmacopoeia
The natural environment of the Germanic territories offered a considerable pharmacological arsenal : mushrooms with psychotropic properties, Opium poppy, Hops, Cannabis, Henbane, and various nightshades such as Belladonna and Datura, two plants containing delirogenic substances. On the other hand, it is impossible to know precisely which plant/substance was used.
Biologists Anna Jarosz-Wilkołazka and Anna Rysiak demonstrate that these people were not limited to simple alcohol consumption, as traditional historiography assumed. If there was use, as this research suggests, of the substances cited above, this would imply a deep knowledge of their occurrence in their environment, their methods of application and their physiological effects.
If indeed the hypothesis of the Polish researchers is one day confirmed; chemical and archaeological analyzes are still lacking for this; these practices would resonate very logically with modern military history. As if humanity had never stopped looking in nature for the means to increase its capabilities in the face of the ultimate challenge of war.
- Miniature Germanic spoons, measuring 4 to 7 cm, were consistently associated with military equipment and warrior burials.
- These spoons could have been used to measure and administer psychoactive substances before battles.
- Their recurring presence in martial contexts suggests that they were used for warlike practices.
