Latest news with #pre-Inca
The Sun
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Peru government under fire for halving reserve around Nazca lines
LIMA: Peru's government on Tuesday defended its decision to nearly halve the size of the protected area where the fabled Nazca lines were discovered, arguing that it would help put a stop to illegal mining in the area. The series of massive etchings on the floor of the Nazca desert, which depict animals, plants, imaginary beings and geometric figures, have fascinated scientists ever since they were first discovered around a century ago. Best viewed from the air, the 2,000-year-old Nazca lines situated some 220 miles (350 kilometers) south of Lima, are one of Peru's top tourist attractions. Archaeologists have reacted with outrage to the government's decision to decrease the size of the reserve from 5,633 square kilometers (2,175 square miles) to to 3,235 square kilometers (1,250 square miles). Defending the move in a meeting with the foreign press, Minister of Energy and Mines Jorge Montero said the area excluded from the reserve contained 'no archaeological or other kind of heritage.' The authorities argue that the rezoning will strike a blow to illegal miners operating in the area, who will have to apply for permits to operate in areas that now fall outside the reserve. Illegal mining has been partly blamed for a wave of gang violence in Peru, one of Latin America's biggest gold producers. Archaeologists however poured scorn on the government's explanations, saying the rezoning could hamper new discoveries in the area. 'It's completely absurd,' Pieter Van Dalen, head of the College of Architects of Peru, told AFP. 'How could he (the mining minister) know, without being an expert, whether there are (other) remains,' Van Dalen said, adding the the redrawing of the reserve's boundaries 'not only affects the lines but a series of settlements throughout the area.' In September, Japanese scientists used artificial intelligence to uncover 303 new etchings in the Nazca desert -- doubling the amount of the known geoglyphs created some 2,000 years ago by a pre-Inca civilization.
The Sun
5 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Peru Halves Nazca Lines Reserve Amid Mining Concerns
LIMA: Peru's government on Tuesday defended its decision to nearly halve the size of the protected area where the fabled Nazca lines were discovered, arguing that it would help put a stop to illegal mining in the area. The series of massive etchings on the floor of the Nazca desert, which depict animals, plants, imaginary beings and geometric figures, have fascinated scientists ever since they were first discovered around a century ago. Best viewed from the air, the 2,000-year-old Nazca lines situated some 220 miles (350 kilometers) south of Lima, are one of Peru's top tourist attractions. Archaeologists have reacted with outrage to the government's decision to decrease the size of the reserve from 5,633 square kilometers (2,175 square miles) to to 3,235 square kilometers (1,250 square miles). Defending the move in a meeting with the foreign press, Minister of Energy and Mines Jorge Montero said the area excluded from the reserve contained 'no archaeological or other kind of heritage.' The authorities argue that the rezoning will strike a blow to illegal miners operating in the area, who will have to apply for permits to operate in areas that now fall outside the reserve. Illegal mining has been partly blamed for a wave of gang violence in Peru, one of Latin America's biggest gold producers. Archaeologists however poured scorn on the government's explanations, saying the rezoning could hamper new discoveries in the area. 'It's completely absurd,' Pieter Van Dalen, head of the College of Architects of Peru, told AFP. 'How could he (the mining minister) know, without being an expert, whether there are (other) remains,' Van Dalen said, adding the the redrawing of the reserve's boundaries 'not only affects the lines but a series of settlements throughout the area.' In September, Japanese scientists used artificial intelligence to uncover 303 new etchings in the Nazca desert -- doubling the amount of the known geoglyphs created some 2,000 years ago by a pre-Inca civilization.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
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?
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Secret 'drug room' full of psychedelic 'snuff tubes' discovered at pre-Inca site in Peru
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Archaeologists in Peru have discovered a 2,500-year-old secret drug room filled with hollowed-out bird bones containing traces of psychedelic snuff and tobacco. The presence of the "snuff tubes" in a hidden room suggests the elite held secret, drug-fueled rituals in pre-Inca times. "The tubes are analogous to the rolled-up bills that high-rollers snort cocaine through in the movies," Daniel Contreras, an archaeologist at the University of Florida, told Live Science in an email. In a study published Monday (May 5) in the journal PNAS, Contreras and a team of archaeologists analyzed the chemical residue in 23 bone and shell artifacts from the archaeological site of Chavín de Huántar in the north-central highlands of Peru. They set out to investigate a long-standing assumption that rituals at the site involved psychoactive substances. This study is the first to show the specific drugs that were inhaled at Chavín, where ritual activity was high but there was little direct evidence of drug use. Chavín was a major center of ritual activity between 1200 B.C. and 400 B.C., before the birth of the Inca empire. The complex included stone structures built around open plazas. As people added to the buildings over the centuries, several rooms became interior spaces called galleries. Related: Secret ancient Andean passageways may have been used in rituals involving psychedelics One particular gallery was sealed around 500 B.C. and not opened again until archaeological excavation in 2017. When archaeologists explored the gallery, they discovered 23 artifacts carved from animal bone and shell into tubes and spoons. Image 1 of 5 Snuff tubes carved from hollow bones found at the Chavín archaeological site in Peru. Image 2 of 5 Psychoactive plants depicted in art at the archaeological site of Chavín in Peru include vilca (top left). Image 3 of 5 A view of the archaeological site of Chavín in Peru Image 4 of 5 A rendering of Chavín at its height, including several monumental buildings around a large plaza. Image 5 of 5 A llama stands in front of the archaeological site of Chavín in Peru. An analysis of the chemical residue on the artifacts revealed that six contained the organic compounds nicotine, likely from tobacco, and dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a naturally occurring hallucinogenic drug commonly found in ayahuasca tea. Further microbotanical analysis showed that four of the artifacts once contained roots of wild Nicotiana species and the DMT-containing seeds and leaves of vilca (Anadenanthera colubrina), which were likely dried, toasted and ground up to produce a potent snuff. "The tubes would have been used — we think — as inhalers," Contreras said, "for taking the snuff through the nose." The bone snuff tubes, which may have been made from the wings of a peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), were also concentrated in restricted-access areas of Chavín, suggesting that psychoactive substance use was controlled by select participants, the researchers noted in the study. Because only a handful of people could fit in the small gallery areas at Chavín, the researchers think drug use reinforced the social hierarchy, creating an elite class separate from the workers who built Chavín's impressive monuments. RELATED STORIES —Massive circular tomb filled with battle-scarred people unearthed in Peru —1,500-year-old tomb in Peru holds human sacrifices, including strangled son next to father's remains, genetic analysis reveals —1,300-year-old throne room of powerful Moche queen discovered in Peru "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 in a statement. Controlled access to ritual drug use also may help to explain a major social transition in the ancient Andes — from more egalitarian societies to the more hierarchical Tiwanaku, Wari and Inca empires. These results suggest that additional work is needed to fully understand the importance of psychoactive substances in the ancient Andes, the researchers wrote.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Massive circular tomb filled with battle-scarred people unearthed in Peru
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The battle-scarred skeletons of two dozen people have been discovered in Peru, revealing new evidence of an ancient conflict. The site, El Curaca, is located in the Atico River Valley in south coastal Peru and was occupied around A.D. 1000 to 1450 by the Chuquibamba or Aruni people, who lived there before and after Spanish conquest. Archaeologists know little about the Aruni, beyond the many petroglyphs they left on cave walls in the area. But in October 2024, Jósef Szykulski of the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Wrocław in Poland and his team launched an excavation at the site and uncovered a large circular stone tomb filled with 24 skeletons of men, women and children. The collective burial included fragments of pottery, bone and stone tools, corn cobs and textiles. Preliminary analysis of the skeletons — which were wrapped in textiles — suggested that all of the people died due to injuries consistent with battle wounds. Related: Rare pre-Inca burials of 4 people found at 'water cult' temple in Peru RELATED STORIES —8 pre-Inca mummies and artifacts unearthed just beneath the streets of Lima, Peru —73 pre-Incan mummies, some with 'false heads,' unearthed from Wari Empire in Peru —5,000-year-old ceremonial temple discovered beneath sand dune in Peru The bodies were buried in a tomb along with rich grave goods, so Szykulski concluded that their side won the battle, with their surviving compatriots giving the massacred victims an honorable burial, according to a translated Facebook post. Szykulski and his team are continuing their work in Peru until the end of April. They are currently documenting the skulls using 3D scanning, working to conserve the textiles they found, and analyzing the pottery and wood items recovered from the burial. The ongoing research project, funded by the National Science Centre of Poland, will also use ancient DNA analysis in the future to better understand the pre-Inca archaeological cultures of the Atico River Valley region.
