I-Search Post #3- sub topic hemp uses in ancient times

Although there are 25,000 known uses from hemp today people often don't recognize it as anything more than a possible drug and hemp is not utilized as well as it could be. In ancient time however hemp was very important. The most common use for hemp in ancient times was for cloth, In fact hemp was most likely the first plant used for textile fiber. Hemp cloth, dating back to 8000 BC, has been found it places like Mesopotamia giving historians the impression that hemp could be one of the first and best examples of human industry. There is also written records of the Sung dynasty which talk about the Emperor Shen Nung instructing his people to cultivate hemp in order to use its long fibrous bark to make cloth in 500 AD. All throughout the ancient world people cultivated hemp. Hemp was probably cultivated for the longest amount of continuous time in China, but it was well spread throughout the ancient world eventually making it to Europe around 1,200 BC. In China around 150 BC first paper was make entirely from hemp and some of the worlds oldest texts written on paper were written on paper primarily composed of hemp. Hemps medicinal purposes were also recognized in ancient times and the seeds, flowers, leaves and roots were often used. Weather they worked or not was debatable, but hemp was commonly prescribed for things such as child birth, insomnia, and rheumatism. Hemp was also used for food being high in fiber and protein and later do to hemp rope's salt resistant properties and strength hemp rope was often used for sailors. As you can see hemp had many uses throughout the ages and served many important functions in people lives.  

Step 4 Sources notes

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ncnu02/v5-284.html accessed from school 12/10/13

This was the first website I looked at and it lead me to ask more questions on the historical significance of hemp. This web site was extreamly helpful and gave lots of information on the basics of hemp and its currant uses in North America. The site took at least a half hour to read but it was well worth it because it was packed full of information. 

http://www.seedguides.info/hemp-oil/ accessed from school 12/12/13

This site was not that helpful but it talked about the uses for hemp oil today. It took me 15 minutes to read. I looked for the uses for hemp oil after reading on the previous site that hemp oil could be used for salad dressing. The article said that hemp oil had many nutritional properties but also many strange side effects. This lead me to look at hemp protien powder. 

http://nutiva.com/products/hemp-protein-powder-organic/ accessed from home 12/12/13

This site was interesting but not super useful. It talked about the nutritional value of hemp protien poweder. It look about 5 minutes to read. This lead me to stop looking at strange hemp products and look into the historical significance of hemp. 

http://www.mit.edu/~thistle/v13/2/history.html accessed from school 12/12/13 

This was the second site I used it talked about the historical significance of hemp and lead me to serch for a historical timeline for hemp. It took a little less than 10 minutes to read and was very helpful for getting a basic idea of hemp and it uses in anchient times. It talked a lot about how the cultivation of hemp could have been the start of agriculture, effecting socioty from that point forward. 

http://www.advancedholistichealth.org/history.html accessed from home 12/12/13

This sorce could be useful for facts. Reading it took about 20 minuets. It's basicaly a time line starting in 8000 BC and ending in 2010 of Hemps main "events" you might say. The article touches on the importance of hemp and "the possibility that marijuana may have actually been world's first agricultural crop, leading to the development of civilization itself" 

http://www.naturalnews.com/028852_hemp_history.html# accessed from home 12/12/13

This article talked about the uses of hemp for industrial and food perposes throughout American history. Although it did not talk about hemp in anchient times it still clarified the fact hemp is different than marijuana and it can not be used to get people high. This lead me to continue searching for information on hemp in ancient times. 

http://www.thestar.com/business/tech_news/2008/11/27/2700yearold_marijuana_found_in_chinese_tomb.html accessed from home 12/12/13

This article talked about marijuana found in an ancient Chinese tomb. It was very interesting and talked about how this is the worlds oldest stach of marijunana. Althoug interesting it is mostly unusable because it talked mostly about marijuana and only mentioned hemp breafly. 

http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/arch/cloth.html#hemp accessed from home 12/12/13

This article talked about the use of cannabis sativa (hemp) for cloth production in ancient china and the process that people used to make the hemp cloth. It was moderately useful learning the process of ancheint hemp cloth production was interesting now it leads me to ask how hemp cloth production has changed 

http://www.new-ag.info/99-4/focuson/focuson3.html accessed from school 12/13/13

This was the one of the best articles I found. It was the most directly related to my thesis. The article talked about Hemps uses in ancheint times and why the production and use of hemp today is so much less than ancient times. 

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/popmech1.htm

This site had the popular mechanics article "new billion dollor crop" it was fasinating although perhaps it's information was alittle out dated because the article was written in 1938. Talks about Hemps posible uses and new decorticator to help harvest hemp. 

I-Search Post #2- sub topic hemp uses today

Upon research on uses for hemp I found that there are many uses I would never have guessed.  Some of its uses I expected, I had heard of things like hemp twine and even hemp clothing but I was completely unaware that there are over 25,00 known uses. The uses for hemp range from twine to toothpaste and some of the more surprising functions are using hemp for salad dressing, coffee filter paper and even carpet. Each part of the plant that makes hemp the Cannabis plant can be used, so no part of the plant is wasted making it a very efficient and Eco friendly plant to grow.  

Step 1

How was hemp used in ancient civilizations and how do those uses compare today?

Sustainability- able to be used without being completely used up or destroyed.