Study sheds new light on exclusive hallucinogenic drug rituals in ancient Peru
CBSN
An ancient society in the Peruvian Andes likely used psychoactive drugs during exclusive rituals that may have helped establish social and political hierarchies seen later throughout the region, according to a new study.
The prehistoric Chavín people held private and potentially secret gatherings where elite figures used "snuff tubes" to consume tobacco and hallucinogenic plant residue with properties of DMT, which can be found in a wide variety of plants, said the study published Monday in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. When ingested, DMT causes brief, episodic visual hallucinations, according to the National Institute of Health.
The study was conducted by a group of archaeologists and researchers led by Daniel Contreras, an anthropologist and professor at the University of Florida, who sought to investigate a centuries-old Chavín compound for evidence of drugs involved in the ritual practices already understood to be a central part of their culture. To do that, Contreras and his team explored and analyzed artifacts found at Chavín de Huántar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Andean highlands some 250 miles north of Lima.
