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A team of archaeologists has recently discovered a pair of pure gold bongs that are approximately 2,400 years old.
According to the experts, the historic artifacts were once used by the heads of tribes to smoke hallucinogenic plants like opium and cannabis.
The gold bongs were unearthed along with other golden objects which weighed in toal more than seven pounds.
The artifacts were discovered by a team of researchers digging a parcel of land in the southern regions of Russia.
Following close analysis, the researchers concluded that the pure gold bongs were items that belonged to the Scythians, a tribe of fierce nomads that once roamed and ruled the Eurasian grasslands.
According to historians, the Scythians did not raise any cities or other type of human settlement, but they did build massive grave mounds called kurgans.
These special graves can be found in countries like Mongolia all the way to the Black Sea.
The artifacts were discovered while a group of diggers were trying to dig holes to put new power lines in.
That’s when they found the gold bongs inside the kurgans.
Researchers say the new discovery sheds light on the adventures and rituals of the Scythians that were narrated by the Greek historian Herodotus.
Anton Gass, an archaeologist at the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, said the newly-found objects are extremely rare findings and also the best samples to have been unearthed in this area.
The pure gold bongs were initially discovered in 2013, but have not been made public until recently in order to protect the site from looters.
The team who discovered the artifacts was led by archaeologist Andrei Belinski. He first started to excavate the kurgan but was not very optimistic that they would find anything valuable inside.
However, after several weeks of digging, the team found a chamber protected by a thick layer of clay and lined with broad and flat stones.
Inside the room, the archaeologists discovered the gold items that escaped the looters who had previously scoured the grounds for valuable objects.
Among the objects they found a pair of vessels made of gold and shaped like a bucket, three cups, a ring, a bracelet, two necklaces, all of which made of pure gold. In total, all the objects weighed about seven pounds.
After analyzing the black residue found inside the cups and bongs, the researchers revealed it was burnt remains of opium and cannabis.
Image Source: techtimes
