11 February, 2015 - 00:27 Mark Miller
Neanderthals on speed 60,000 years ago; Paleolithic art inspired by psilocybin or Amanita muscaria mushroom trips; and alcohol-fueled religious worship all over the world down through the ages – these are just some of the drug-taking behaviors reported in a new research paper which looked at decades of archaeological evidence to see how prevalent the use of psychoactive substances and other reality-bending practices was in prehistory. The paper also explores the link between religion and hallucinogens, stimulants, alcoholic beverages and other substances.
Elisa Guerra-Doce, an archaeologist at the University of Valladolid in Spain, says that altered states of consciousness were very nearly ubiquitous in societies throughout prehistory and history. An anthropologist who studied 488 human societies published a paper in 1973 that said 437 or 90 percent of them reportedly incorporated altered states of consciousness (ASC) into their fundamental belief systems.
Cohoba, a hallucinogen made of ground tree seeds, was used by Taino shamans. Users put cohoba powder on a carved pedestal and inhaled through the nose via an inhaler like this piece, from between 1000 and 1500 A.D. This carved stone shows a shaman or behique in a trance. (Walters Art Museum photo/Wikimedia Commons)
Guerra-Doce looked at four types of archaeological evidence to do her study of altered states among prehistoric societies:
- Fossils of burned, waterlogged or desiccated leaves, seeds, fruits or wood of psychoactive plants
- Psychoactive alkaloids in skeletal remains and artifacts
- Residues of alcoholic beverages
- Depictions of drinking scenes or mood-altering plants inspired by inspired by altered states of consciousness
She found chemical residue from and parts of many psychoactive plant in levels of dwellings from various eras and in artifacts and human remains from thousands of years ago. People used alcoholic beverages nearly everywhere for thousands of years, mildly stimulating betel leaves in Asia as far back as 13,000 B.C., hallucinogens derived from the San Pedro cactus in the Andes as far back as 10,600 years, hallucinogenic mescal beans in Texas and northern Mexico 11,000 years ago, and peyote from between 9,000 and 5,600 years ago.
MORE
- Prehistoric people used hallucinogens as part of sacred burial rituals
- New study sheds light on drug culture in Tiwanaku, Bolivia
- The ancient origins of the ceremonial Kava drink of the Pacific
The Greek god of wine, Dionysus, crosses the sea in his dolphin boat with grape vines above the sail in a bowl from 530 B.C. by Exsekias. (Carole Raddato photo/Wikimedia Commons)
People also apparently got high on opium as the poppy was domesticated in the western Mediterranean 8,000 years ago; the mildly stimulating (among other benefits) coca leaves for tea and chewing in South America from at least 6,000 B.C.; cannabis (marijuana) in central Asia 7,000 years ago and hallucinogenic nightshade all over the world as long ago as 5,000 years. There were tobacco in the New World 4,000 years ago, hallucinogenic yopo snuff from the New World more than 4,000 years ago, and hallucinogenic mushrooms from various places and times around the world.
Peyote plant (Frank Vincentz photo/Wikimedia Commons)
Guerra-Doce states in her report:
Ethnographic studies have long been exploring the place of fermented beverages (beer, fruit wines, rice wine, mead, koumiss, pulque, chicha, among many others) and psychoactive plants, not only hallucinogenic but also narcotic and stimulant (peyote cactus, morning glories seeds, sacred mushrooms, ayahuasca or yaje brew, cohoba, Virola snuffs, coca, tobacco, mescal beans, San Pedro cactus, iboga, betel, kat, pituri, cannabis, nightshade plants, opium poppy, and ephedra, just to offer a few examples) within traditional societies in every corner of the planet, above all in the Americas.
Published in Time and Mind: The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture, Guerra-Doce’s article is titled 'Psychoactive Substances in Prehistoric Times: Examining the Archaeological Evidence' (PDF link). While the article focuses on entheogens, or plants and alcoholic beverages that 'generate the divine within,' it also refers to other practices that people used to alter their reality, including auditory stimulation, exposure to extreme temperatures, food restrictions, breathing techniques, extreme physical exercise, or meditation.
Featured image: Ancient relief carving depicting drug use (Michael Bradley)
By Mark Miller
Source: We found the Comments interesting also: ancient-origins
