Betel nut chewing in Southeast Asia may go back 25,000 years

Long before betel nut was served from ornate trays at Malay weddings or offered to guests as a gesture of hospitality, people in this part of the world may already have been seeking out its stimulating effects.

Recent research published in “Science Advances” has found evidence that hunter-gatherers in Sulawesi, Indonesia, were habitually using betel nut as far back as 25,000 years ago. The findings push the known history of psychoactive plant use far deeper into the prehistoric past than researchers had previously been able to demonstrate.

The study examined the remains of two pre-agricultural individuals from caves in South Sulawesi, one dating to between 25,000 and 16,000 years ago and the other to between 7,600 and 6,300 years ago.

Both had unusual rounded grooves worn into their molars, suggesting that hard objects had repeatedly been held against their teeth over long periods.

Biomolecular analysis of the teeth also produced evidence consistent with exposure to betel nut. According to the researchers, the most likely explanation is that these ancient foragers repeatedly sucked whole areca nuts rather than chewing the prepared betel quid more familiar today.

An ancient habit takes shape

The areca nut contains arecoline, a stimulant that can produce heightened alertness and mild euphoria. Experiments carried out as part of the study showed that simply keeping a whole nut in the mouth for prolonged periods can release the compound, even without the slaked lime commonly used in later betel-chewing traditions.

Researchers say the practice may initially have had a practical purpose. Betel nut can numb the mouth, raising the possibility that people sucked it to relieve dental pain, although its stimulant effects may also have encouraged repeated use.

What the findings do not show is that people 25,000 years ago were chewing sirih pinang exactly as Malaysians would recognise it. The familiar quid of betel leaf, areca nut and slaked lime appears to have developed later, and precisely when that combination emerged remains uncertain.

By historical times, however, betel chewing had become deeply embedded across Southeast Asia. In the Malay world, “makan sirih” or “menginang” was not merely a personal habit but part of hospitality, courtship, weddings and ceremonial exchange.

According to Badan Warisan Malaysia, the basic Malay betel quid traditionally combined betel leaf, lime and slices of areca nut, often with gambir added as a fourth ingredient. Tobacco and spices could also be included depending on taste and local custom.

The practice also gave rise to an entire material culture. Ingredients were stored and presented in “tepak sirih” or betel boxes made from materials ranging from wood and brass to silver and gold, some of them elaborate enough to become treasured household or ceremonial objects.

Across the wider region, offering betel once functioned as an important social ritual. Historical accounts describe it as common in Malay, Indian and Peranakan households, where sharing a quid could signal welcome, respect or sociability

In Malaysia, betel chewing is far less common today than it once was, particularly among younger generations. Yet its traces remain visible in language, wedding customs, museum collections and surviving tepak sirih sets that recall a time when offering betel was almost as much about manners as appetite.

The new Sulawesi discovery does not prove a direct cultural line stretching unbroken from Ice Age foragers to modern Malaysian traditions.

But what it does suggest is that long before silver betel boxes, wedding ceremonies and carefully folded leaves, somebody in prehistoric Southeast Asia was already reaching for an areca nut – and apparently doing so often enough to leave the evidence behind in their teeth.

Subscribe to our newsletter and get news delivered to your mailbox.