The Sulawesi betel nut evidence adds a new data point to this picture.

The forager who was habitually sucking areca nuts 16,000 to 25,000 years ago was demonstrating several things simultaneously:

Knowledge of the plant’s properties.

They knew that this specific seed, held in the mouth in this specific way, produced this specific effect.

This knowledge had to be learned and transmitted culturally.

The ability to pursue pleasure or relief even at cost.

The sustained use of the nut despite the dental damage it caused reflects a cognitive sophistication: the ability to value a present benefit (the stimulant effect, the analgesia) despite a future cost (the dental destruction).