The Leang Bulu Bettue Cave And Its Long Human History

The cave where the older specimen was found — Leang Bulu Bettue — is not just the site of the oldest drug evidence.

It has a rich archaeological record that the 2026 betel nut study draws on and contributes to.

A 2025 publication by Brumm and colleagues documented “a near-continuous archaeological record of Pleistocene human occupation at Leang Bulu Bettue, Sulawesi, Indonesia.” This near-continuity of human use of the cave — spanning the Late Pleistocene — makes the site one of the most important for understanding Ice Age human behavior in Island Southeast Asia.

The cave contains multiple occupation layers, each with its own assemblage of stone tools, food remains, and other evidence of human activity.