Current archaeological research on cultigens emphasizes the protracted and intimate human interactions with wild species that defined paths to domestication and, with certain plants, profoundly impacted humanity. Tobacco arguably has had more impact on global patterns in history than any other psychoactive substance, but how deep its cultural ties extend has been widely debated. Excavations at the Wishbone site, directed at the hearth-side activities of the early inhabitants of North America’s desert west, have uncovered evidence for human tobacco use approximately 12,300 years ago, 9,000 years earlier than previously documented. Here we detail the preservation context of the site, discuss its cultural affiliation and suggest ways that the tobacco may have been used. The find has implications for our understanding of deep-time human use of intoxicants and its sociocultural intersection with food crop domestication.

目前对栽培种的考古研究强调人类与野生物种之间长期而密切的互动，这些互动定义了驯化的途径，并且与某些植物对人类产生了深远的影响。在历史上，烟草对全球模式的影响可以说比任何其他精神活性物质都大，但它的文化联系延伸到多深一直存在广泛争论。Wishbone 遗址的挖掘针对北美西部沙漠早期居民的炉边活动，发现了大约 12,300 年前人类使用烟草的证据，比以前记载的早 9,000 年。在这里，我们详细介绍了该遗址的保护背景，讨论了它的文化归属，并提出了烟草可能被使用的方式。