Once upon a time, 15,000 years ago, in a region in the north-east of Morocco, there were men and women who knew how to spice up their funeral rituals. And no, it wasn’t just background music or ostrich feather garlands.
Ephedra (in Arabic عنب البحر), this plant with stimulating virtues and a very controversial reputation, was the guest of honor at the prehistoric funeral. From 2005 to 2015, archaeologists in search of thrills exhumed skeletons in the Taforalt cave, in the northeast of Morocco. Bodies of adults and infants lay there, frozen in time, ready to do battle with eternity.
But the highlight of the show, it depends, lay in the charred remains of plants, including ephedra. A plant that was then used not for its gifts in rheumatology, but for its energizing properties, just to start the afterlife on the right foot. At that time, ephedra was the Red Bull of hunter-gatherers – without the can or the flashy advertising.
Its fleshy cones, not only curing asthma and colds, were the icing on the funeral cake. A proven “vasoconstrictor,” it would have helped control bleeding during prehistoric human repairs (translation: makeshift surgery). A miraculous plant which, ironically, almost sent some contemporaries prematurely underground.
The modern setbacks of ephedra
Nowadays, ephedra has lost its prestige. Having passed from a divine potion to a prohibited substance, it is banned in several countries. North Americans, who had adopted it in their slimming cocktails, must have become disillusioned with it. Add a dash of caffeine and you’ve got yourself the explosive mix gym junkies love. Until an unfortunate incident – in this case, the death of a young footballer in 2023 – reminds everyone that miracle plants can have a disastrous epilogue.
From its ritual glory days to its contemporary legal battles, ephedra has survived the ages, preserving its mysterious aura. In the past, she accompanied the deceased on the path to eternal rest. Today, it symbolizes a losing war against modern excess. Cruel irony for a plant which once opened the door to heaven, and which today sends a premature knock on the same door.
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