Ancient Ritual Bundle From Bolivia Reveals Multiple Psychotropic Plants

Conny Waters - AncientPages.com  - One thousand years ago, Native Americans in South America used multiple psychotropic plants — possibly simultaneously — to induce hallucinations and altered consciousness, according to an international team of anthropologists.

The researchers were searching for ancient occupations in the dry rock shelters of the dry Sora River valley in southwestern Bolivia when they found a ritual bundle as part of a human burial.

Left:  Psychoactive compounds found in an animal-skin pouch constructed of three
fox snouts stitched together. Right: The ritual bundle included two carved and decorated wooden snuffing tablets that would have been used as a platform on which to pulverize psychotropic plants. Image: J.Capriles/Penn State

The bundle — composed of a leather bag — contained, among other things, two snuffing tablets used to pulverize psychotropic plants into snuff; a snuffing tube for smoking hallucinogenic plants; and a pouch constructed of three fox snouts.

"We already knew that psychotropics were important in the spiritual and religious activities of the societies of the south-central Andes, but we did not know that these people were using so many different compounds and possibly combining them together," said Jose Capriles, assistant professor of anthropology, Penn State, said in a press release.

The team determined the age of the outer leather bag (that likely belonged to a  shaman) to about 1,000 years old and identified  the presence of multiple psychoactive compounds.

"Shamans were ritual specialists who had knowledge of plants and how to use them as mechanisms to engage with supernatural beings, including venerated ancestors who were thought to exist in other realms," said Capriles.

"It is possible that the shaman who owned this pouch consumed multiple different plants simultaneously to produce different effects or extend his or her hallucinations."

The researchers found a ritual bundle in the Cueva del Chileno rock shelter located in southwestern Bolivia. Image: J.Capriles/Penn State

Based on chemical evidence found by the team, there is the possibility of an early form of ayahuasca-type preparation that may have been used up to 1,000 years ago.

See also:
More Archaeology News

The presence of numerous compounds suggest simultaneous use of multiple psychotropic plants and earlier use of ayahuasca, in particular, and also indicates intricate botanical knowledge by the owner of the pouch and an effort to acquire hallucinogenic plants, as the plants came from different regions of mostly tropical South America.

The researchers also determined that none of the psychoactive compounds they found come from plants that grow in this area of the Andes. It suggests travelling shamans may have carried their own supplies of the drug.

Paper

Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer