Archaeologists Explored Secret Mountain Rooms—and Found Ancient Psychedelic Paraphernalia
The discovery of ancient bones carved into tubes in the mountains of Peru led researchers to conduct chemical analyses.
Results of chemical and microscopic studies showed that the tubes contained hallucinogenic substances—the first direct evidence of its kind from the region.
The the substances were used as part of a hierarchical class system, as well as for their hallucinogenic impact.
Researchers discovered that pre-Inca stone structures from the mountains of Peru had secret rooms accessible to only the most exclusive in society. In those rooms, they found bones carved into tubes used as psychedelic paraphernalia—part of a ritualistic experience in which special leaders smoked psychoactive plants.
'Taking psychoactives was not just about seeing visions,' Daniel Contreras, an anthropological archaeologist at the University of Florida, said in a statement. 'It was part of a tightly controlled ritual, likely reserved for a select few, reinforcing the social hierarchy.'
A team of researchers from multiple institutions published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences detailing their examination of the mysteries behind caves found at an elevation of 10,000 feet in the Peruvian mountains. These areas were once controlled by the Chavin Phenomenon, a group that dominated the terrain 2,000 years before the Inca empire controlled the Andes.
The Chavin people were known for agricultural innovation in the first millennium B.C., but the society's elite class may have also been innovating in the hallucinogenics space. In the study, the team showed that these 23 tubes carved from hollow bones are the earliest known direct evidence of psychoactive plant use in the Andes. They found the tubes in monumental stone structures at the prehistoric Chavin de Huantar ceremonial site, and claim that the objects demonstrate that 'even in their early stages, socio-politically complex societies incorporated psychoactive plants into ritual activity.'
A range of chemical and microscopic tests of the tubes showed traces of nicotine (from wild relatives of tobacco) and vilca bean residue, which is a hallucinogen related to DMT. The tubes were in private chambers within the massive stone structure—rooms that could only hold a handful of people at one time, giving a cloak of secrecy to the space. The study noted that 'evidence argues that ritual activity often included inducement of altered mental states.'
Controlling access to the altered states gave Chavin's rulers the ability to govern under the guise of working within a mystical power structure that was part of the natural order, the researchers wrote. 'The supernatural world isn't necessarily friendly, but it's powerful,' Contreras said. 'These rituals, often enhanced by psychoactives, were compelling, transformative experiences that reinforced belief systems and social structures.'
John Rick, professor emeritus at Stanford, believes that the ceremonies helped establish class structures, and that leadership tightly controlled access to the personal visions to retain power.
'One of the ways that inequality was justified or naturalized was through ideology—through the creation of impressive ceremonial experiences that made people believe this whole project was a good idea,' Contreras said about the potential that class structure was used to to convince Chavin's builders to construct stone monuments.
Having rooms designed for specific purposes within the mountain society wasn't limited to just the use of hallucinogenics. Archaeologist also found trumpets made from conch shells in chambers that had seemingly been designed to enhance the shell's musical attributes.
The research team believes they've helped answer questions about a site first discovered over a hundred years ago. The Chavin have been linked to earlier more egalitarian societies, and the mountain-spanning empires ruled by elites that came later. 'Controlled access to mystical experiences helps explain this major social transition,' the team wrote.
'It's exciting that ongoing excavations can be combined with cutting-edge archaeological science techniques,' Contreras said, 'to get us closer to understanding what it was like to live at this site.'
You Might Also Like
The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape
The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere
Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
10 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Marine heat waves are spreading around the world
Scientists define marine heat waves in different ways. But it's clear that as the planet's climate changes, the oceans are being fundamentally altered as they absorb excess heat trapped in the atmosphere from greenhouse gases, which are emitted when fossil fuels are burned. Hotter oceans are causing drastic changes to marine life, sea levels, and weather patterns. Advertisement Some of the most visible casualties of ocean warming have been coral reefs. When ocean temperatures rise too much, corals can bleach and die. About 84 percent of reefs worldwide experienced bleaching-level heat stress at some point between January 2023 and March 2025, according to a recent report. Last year, the warmest on record, sea levels rose faster than scientists expected. Research showed that most of that rise in sea levels came from ocean water expanding as it warms, which is known as thermal expansion, not from melting glaciers and ice sheets, which in past years were the biggest contributors to rising seas. Advertisement Excess heat in the oceans can also affect weather patterns, making hurricanes more likely to rapidly intensify and become more destructive. In the southwest Pacific, last year's ocean heat contributed to a record-breaking streak of tropical cyclones hitting the Philippines. 'If we understand how global warming is affecting extreme events, that is essential information to try to anticipate what's going on, what's next,' said Marta Marcos, a physicist at the University of the Balearic Islands in Spain. Marcos was the lead author of a recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that found that climate change has been responsible for the overwhelming majority of marine heat waves in recent decades. Some of the earliest research on mass die-offs associated with marine heat waves, before there was a name for them, came from the Mediterranean, which has been warming three to five times faster than the ocean at large. Joaquim Garrabou, a marine conservation ecologist at the Institut de Ciencies del Mar in Barcelona, Spain, started studying these events after witnessing a die-off of sponges and coral in 1999. He and other scientists believed that with climate change, these die-offs would reoccur. 'The reality is moving even faster than what we thought,' he said. 'Having these mass mortality events is the new normal, instead of something infrequent, which it should be.' In 2012, a marine heat wave in the Gulf of Maine highlighted the risk these events pose to fisheries. The Northern shrimp population went from an estimated 27.25 billion in 2010 to 2.8 billion two years later, according to modeling by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Advertisement 'This disappearance of the shrimp was just shocking,' said Anne Richards, a retired research fisheries biologist who worked at NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center at the time. Her research pointed to a significant culprit: Longfin squid, drawn north by warmer water, were eating the shrimp. The fishery has not yet reopened. By 2023, the Northern shrimp population was estimated to have dropped to around 200 million. Commercial fishing has always been difficult, but now, 'climate change is taking that to another level,' said Kathy Mills, a senior scientist at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. Complicating matters is the fact that much of the research on marine heat waves comes from just a few countries, including Australia, the United States, China, Canada, Spain, and the United Kingdom. 'There are lots of regions around the world where monitoring isn't as good as other places, and so we don't really know what's happening,' said Dan Smale, a community ecologist at the United Kingdom's Marine Biological Association. Eventually, parts of the ocean might enter a constant state of marine heat wave, at least by today's common definition. Some scientists see today's shorter-term spikes as practice for this future. Alistair Hobday, a biological oceanographer at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, has been conducting public briefings with marine heat wave forecasts months ahead of time. People are tuning in — and responding. The critically endangered red handfish lives off the coast of Tasmania, crawling along the seafloor on fins shaped like hands. These unusual fish have only been found within two small patches of rocky reef and sea grass meadow. Advertisement In late 2023, Hobday's forecast predicted potentially deadly marine heat waves. Researchers from the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, with support from the Australian Department of Climate Change, took a drastic step. They transferred 25 red handfish to an aquarium until the temperatures fell. Jemina Stuart-Smith, an ecologist at the University of Tasmania, described those weeks as the most stressful time of her life. 'If it all went wrong,' she said, 'you're talking about the potential extinction of an entire species.' After three months, 18 fish were returned to the ocean. Three had died, and four were enrolled in a captive breeding program. Scientists recognize that temporary fixes can only do so much in the face of long-term warming. 'It's kind of putting a Band-Aid on a broken leg,' said Kathryn Smith, a marine ecologist and postdoctoral researcher at the Marine Biological Association. But those studying today's extreme events still hope their work gives people some visibility into the future of the world's oceans, Hobday said. 'Clever people, if you tell them about the future,' he said, 'can think of all kinds of things to do differently.' This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
New Study Links Surge in Pediatric Firearm Deaths to Looser State Gun Laws
A major new study published June 9th in JAMA draws a stark line between firearm policy and pediatric deaths in the U.S. — and the findings are sobering and statistically significant. The research examined child and teen firearm mortality trends following the 2010 Supreme Court ruling McDonald v. Chicago, which expanded Second Amendment protections nationwide. While the ruling applied federally, individual states responded differently — some enacting looser gun laws in its wake, others maintaining or tightening restrictions. What followed, researchers say, was a divergence with life-and-death consequences. Here, Jeremy Samuel Faust, M.D., M.S., M.A., FACEP (of the Brigham & Women's Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine) explains the results: 'We found that the increase in pediatric firearm deaths since [McDonald] is large, but essentially isolated to states that expanded firearm access laws in the following years,' the authors wrote. 'In places that did not expand access (NY, CA, CT, etc.), rates have not gone up and in some places are down.' The numbers are stark. Over a 13-year period, there were approximately 7,400 more pediatric firearm deaths in so-called 'permissive' states than expected based on pre-McDonald trends — amounting to 573 additional deaths per year, all concentrated in states that rolled back gun restrictions. By contrast, in states that maintained stricter laws — such as New York, California, and Connecticut — rates of firearm death among youth either remained steady or declined slightly. The gap is most visible in the study's data visualization, below: 'The yellow and blue lines are the most permissive firearm law states,' the study noted. 'The gray line is the strict group of states. As you can see, no change in the strict places compared to pre-McDonald trends, but massive ones in the others.' Among the key findings: Homicides made up the majority of pediatric firearm deaths, but suicides also rose. The average age of victims was 14. In permissive states, Black youth experienced the highest initial rates and the steepest increases in firearm mortality. In strict states, however, Black youth did not see an uptick. States with strict gun laws — while still operating under the Second Amendment — avoided these increases entirely. While not part of this study, previous data underscores the broader context: Firearms are now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 1 to 19. But that risk isn't evenly distributed. In Massachusetts, for example, firearms rank sixth among causes of death in that age group. In Mississippi, they're number one. The bottom line: Gun laws matter — and when it comes to children, the difference in policies can be fatal. The post New Study Links Surge in Pediatric Firearm Deaths to Looser State Gun Laws appeared first on Katie Couric Media.
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
Archaeologists Uncover 3 Never-Before-Seen Mayan Cities
Archaeologists working in Guatemala's Petén jungle have discovered three ancient Mayan cities, the country's Ministry of Culture and Sports announced in a statement. The cities, arranged in a triangular pattern, rest roughly three miles apart from one another. They were incorporated during a period known as the 'middle preclassic' (1,000-400 B.C.), and remained inhabited until about 1,100 years ago. One site of particular interest to archaeologists, dubbed 'Los Abuelos' or 'the Grandparents,' contains stone sculptures of a man and woman which researchers believe depict the ancestors of the city's citizens. They posit that this site may have served as a ceremonial or religious second newly discovered city, dubbed 'Petnal,' features a 108-foot tall flat-topped pyramid which contains a separate room containing murals. Though most of the artwork has degraded, scientists were able to identify red, white, and black colors; however, further analyses will be required to determine what the murals actually depicted. The third city, Cambrayal, features an intricate series of canals which begin at a water reservoir atop the city's palace. Archaeologists believe these waterways were used for removing waste."It's especially exciting to learn about the Los Abuelos site," Megan O'Neil, an associate professor of art history at Emory University who was not part of the excavation team, told Live Science. O'Neill added that the stonework found at the sites "are especially poignant and are similar to many other examples of Maya people making offerings to vital sculptures and connecting with their ancestors by interacting with sculptures from the past." She believes these recent discoveries will "help reconnect items in private and museum collections with their places of origin and deposition, helping return memory to those ceramics, to these sites, and to Maya people living in this region and across the world."Archaeologists Uncover 3 Never-Before-Seen Mayan Cities first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 9, 2025
