Latest news with #ChavínDeHuántar
Gizmodo
13-05-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
Psychedelics Allowed Ancient Peruvians to Consolidate Power, Study Says
In a new study, archaeologists uncovered 2,500-year-old psychoactive drug paraphernalia in an archaeological site in the Peruvian highlands. Ancient Peruvians likely used psychedelics during intricate and exclusive rituals, according to the study's authors. The study, published May 5 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the ancient Chavín people, a pre-Incan society that dwelt in the Peruvian Andes, consumed tobacco and hallucinogenic plants during secretive rituals open only to an elite few. Chavín leaders may have controlled access to these trippy experiences as a way to gain prestige and influence. 'Taking psychoactives was not just about seeing visions. It was part of a tightly controlled ritual, likely reserved for a select few, reinforcing the social hierarchy,' Daniel Contreras, anthropological archaeologist at the University of Florida and co-author of the new study, said in a statement. Researchers already knew that intricate rituals were a big part of Chavín culture. To learn more about these rituals, a group of researchers from universities in the United States and in South America analyzed artifacts found at Chavín de Huántar, a UNESCO world heritage site in the Peruvian highlands. There, inside monumental stone structures, they uncovered what they suspected was ancient drug paraphernalia: hollow, cigarette-sized tubes made from bird bones. When the scientists conducted microscopic and chemical analyses of the hollow tubes, they found traces of a molecule similar to dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a powerful psychoactive compound that naturally occurs in plants that are native to Peru. DMT can cause brief, intense trips, complete with hallucinations. Researchers found these 'snuff tubes' in small private chambers, suggesting that access to the drugs was likely quite exclusive. Chavín people likely weren't using these drugs to have a good time. The scientists speculate that through these rituals, leaders established themselves as connected to the mystical and supernatural. By controlling access to these wild and powerful experiences, leaders might have been able to cement their status. So, these hallucinatory rituals might have also spurred fundamental changes in Chavín society, the study finds. The Chavín have been linked to earlier, more egalitarian societies. But the controlled access to weird, mystical experiences may help explain the transition over to the hierarchical societies that came later. '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.'
The Sun
12-05-2025
- Health
- The Sun
Inside 3,000-year-old ‘drug den' where humans used BONES to take hallucinogens in ‘terrifying' mystery ritual of visions
GAME OF BONES There may be a very surprising reason for the bizarre ritual A MYSTERIOUS ancient society was using hollowed-out bones to take drugs inside an "exclusive" psychedelics chamber. The long-abandoned drug den was where ancient Andeans would consume hallucinogens as part of strange "vision-seeing" rituals. 8 8 8 This "Chavín" society lived in the Andes two thousand years before the Inca empire. And scientists say these lesser-known people "access to altered states of consciousness" by taking psychedelics. Scientists say the drug-consuming bone tools are the earliest evidence of the use of "psychoactive plants" in the Peruvian Andes. The hollow bones were turned into ancient snuff tubes, and were found in stone chambers inside a prehistoric ritual site. It's called Chavín de Huántar, a ceremonial site high up in the mountains of Peru, at an elevation of around 10,000 feet. They would conduct "exclusive rituals" inside private chambers that could only hold a few people at a time. Researchers say this would've created an "air of mystique and control". "Taking psychoactives was not just about seeing visions," said archaeologist Daniel Contreras, who worked on the discovery. "It was part of a tightly controlled ritual, likely reserved for a select few, reinforcing the social hierarchy." These chambers were contained inside massive stone structures at the site – and were built around 3,000 years ago, before being sealed 500 years later. 'Once in a century' Pompeii discovery as ancient luxury SPA is saved from ashes with thermal baths & stunning mosaic And they would've had "profound, even terrifying" experiences after taking the drugs. "To those who inhaled, the supernatural might have felt like a force beyond comprehension," the University of Florida explained. "And that was precisely the point. "By controlling access to these altered states, Chavín's rulers established a potent ideology. 8 8 8 "And convinced their people that their leadership was intertwined with mystical power and part of the natural order." Evidence of nicotine from wild relatives of tobacco was found, as well as vilca bean residue, which is a hallucinogen related to DMT. Researchers believed that the rituals were used to reinforce the authority of leaders and create a class structure. 'The supernatural world isn't necessarily friendly, but it's powerful,' Contreras, of the University of Florida, explained. "These rituals, often enhanced by psychoactives, were compelling, transformative experiences that reinforced belief systems and social structures." Trumpets made from conch shells were also found at the site. And researchers think that the chambers were designed to "enhance" musical performances using these trumpets. "One of the ways that inequality was justified or naturalized was through ideology," Contreras said. 8 8 "Through the creation of impressive ceremonial experiences that made people believe this whole project was a good idea." science techniques to get us closer to understanding what it was like to live at this site." This research was published in the journal PNAS.
