Rameses II and the tobacco beetle

The use of a wide range of narcotic drugs in antiquity has been widely docu mented, although archaeologists have sometimes been too credulous of appare ntly scientific data, and have failed to appreciate the post-excavation his tories of artefacts, including mummies. This paper examines the discovery o f tobacco in the mummy of Rameses II, provides an alternative model for its origin, as a 19th-century insecticide used in conservation, and throws dou bt upon the evidence for both cannabis and cocaine in ancient Egypt.