Tobacco use dates back over 1300 yrs Washington, Jan 12 (ANI):
Nicotine traces have been discovered in a 1,300-year-old Mayan
flask decorated with hieroglyphics that apparently point to the
intended contents, researchers say. A scientist at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute and an anthropologist from the University
at Albany teamed up to use ultra-modern chemical analysis
technology at Rensselaer to analyze ancient Mayan pottery for
proof of tobacco use in the ancient culture. Dmitri Zagorevski,
director of the Proteomics Core in the Center for Biotechnology
and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) at Rensselaer, and Jennifer
Loughmiller-Newman, a doctoral candidate at the University at
Albany, have discovered the first physical evidence of tobacco
in a Mayan container. The interior of the vessel had not been
cleaned, leaving the interior unmodified and the residue
protected from contamination. The approximately two-and-a-half-
inch wide and high clay vessel bears Mayan hieroglyphics,
reading "the home of his/her t