For all the articles waffling about the possibility of trans-atlantic trade you really need to read far into the article to find the most likely source. tldr ....<p>&gt; Are there any plant sources known to have been available to the Ancient Egyptians between 1070BC - 395AD containing nicotine, cocaine, or THC?<p>&gt; SB: It is known that cocaine is the principal alkaloid of the leaves of Erythroxylum coca. Cocaine is present also in other Erythroxylum species native to South Africa, Madagascar and Mauritius in amounts less than those found in Erythroxylum coca. However, it is possible that in antiquity a way to concentrate cocaine was known....<p>Not nearly as interesting as the two major pyramid building civilizations trading, but far more likely.<p>A list of plants containing cocaine:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;sun.ars-grin.gov:8080&#x2F;npgspub&#x2F;xsql&#x2F;duke&#x2F;chemdisp.xsql?chemical=COCAINE" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;sun.ars-grin.gov:8080&#x2F;npgspub&#x2F;xsql&#x2F;duke&#x2F;chemdisp.xsql...</a><p>If the article is true, those ancients must have been eating shit loads of Erythroxylum leaves to have the same cocaine levels in their bodies as modern day addicts (which makes me wonder if they are measuring the levels incorrectly).