News Archaeology

The earliest evidence of tobacco use dates to over 12,000 years ago

It’s unclear how ancient North American hunter-gatherers used the plant

an ancient burned tobacco seed shown from three angles

Burned tobacco seeds found at an archaeological site in Utah, including this seed shown here from multiple angles, date to more than 12,000 years ago.

D. Duke et al/Nature Human Behavior 2021

By Bruce Bower

Ancient North Americans started using tobacco around 12,500 to 12,000 years ago, roughly 9,000 years before the oldest indications that they smoked the plant in pipes, a new study finds.