Among the specific finds from the Ice Maiden’s burial that attracted particular attention was evidence of cannabis.

Herodotus, writing in the fifth century B.C.E., had famously described the Scythians using hemp in a specific way: they would create a kind of sauna by hanging felt curtains around a support frame, placing heated stones inside, and throwing hemp seeds onto the stones.

The resulting vapor — essentially hot cannabis smoke — was inhaled for its psychoactive effects.

Herodotus described this as producing wild shouts and cries from those inside, in a spirit of joy.

Whether Herodotus’s account is accurate in its details or embellished for his Greek audience is debated.