WAS OPIUM KNOWN IN 18TH DYNASTY ANCIENT-EGYPT - AN EXAMINATION OF MATERIALS FROM THE TOMB OF THE CHIEF ROYAL ARCHITECT KHA

Examination by microscopy, thin-layer chromatography, gas-liquid chrom atography alone and combined with mass spectrometry, and radioimmunoas say methods of materials from the tomb of the ancient Egyptian chief r oyal architect Kha, who is believed to have died about 1405 BC, has sh own that there is no morphine - and hence no opium - present. This fin ding casts doubt on the results of an earlier analysis. Tropane alkalo ids are likewise absent. The significance of the present findings for the history of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum L., in the eastern Mediterranean region is discussed. Evidence (chemical, botanical, arte factual, and linguistic) for the supposed presence of the opium poppy and opium in Egypt in the Late Bronze Age is briefly reviewed. These c onsiderations and the negative outcome of the present analyses mean th at the earlier reported finding can no longer be accepted as evidence.