Warriors of the Roman Period May Have Used Narcotics Before Battle

Learn why the use of a tiny spoon likely suggests that Germanic communities used psychotropic drugs for battle.

By Joshua Rapp Learn
Jan 30, 2025 2:30 PM



This image is a battle reenactment from the Medieval times and not the Roman Period, but represents a warrior battle. (Credit: Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock)


Centuries of votive offerings cast into a lake in Denmark and other archaeological discoveries have revealed that barbarian warriors may have indulged in psychotropic drugs to stimulate themselves during battle against the Romans and other enemies.

These warriors may have used small spoons — dozens of which have been discovered attached to Barbarian belts — to ingest or measure magic mushrooms, an organic precursor for LSD or other substances.

“The lack of fatigue or inhibition, and the mobilization before a battle were desirable,” says Anna Jarosz-Wilkołazka, a biologist at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Poland. “Therefore, products natural at that time were sought which had this effect on the warrior’s body.”

Barbarian Drug Spoons

Researchers have been discovering small spoons, roughly about as long as a house key, for decades, but they never knew what they were used for. They have been found on the end of belts, which led many people to believe that they might have buckled the belt together.

More:
https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/warriors-of-the-roman-period-may-have-used-narcotics-before-battle