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Chemical archaeology of kava, a potent brew
C H Hocart1, B Fankhauser, D W Buckle
1Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra.
Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry : RCM
|March 1, 1993
Abstract:
Kava lactones, which are present in the intoxicating Pacific Island drink, kava, have now been detected in a number of archaeological artefacts using selected-ion monitoring techniques in conjunction with gas chromatography/electron impact-mass spectrometry. Thus it is now possible to link unequivocally kava drinking, a major aspect of the ceremonial culture of many Pacific societies, to the archaeological record. In addition, a new variation of the kava lactone skeleton was tentatively identified in the form of 7,8-dihydro-5,6-dehydrokawain and 7,8-dihydro-5,6-dehydromethysticin.