Secret History
The plants are not native to the region and were probably transported across the Andes Mountains. Researchers found that the drugs of choice changed over time. Ayahuasca and mescaline became less favored and coca consumption became more common after the Wari Empire conquered the Nazca around A.D. 750.
This shift may indicate changes in religious rituals surrounding human sacrifice. The find included four trophy heads, including one belonging to a child, who were sacrificial victims, but there is very little evidence of what role psychoactive substances played in the rituals. Bioarchaeologist Dagmara Socha of the University of Warsaw believes the antidepressant effects of the drugs may have been an important reason for their use. "In the case of the children that were sacrificed," she says, "they were given Banisteriopsis caapi, probably because it was important for them to go happily to the gods."
Comment: The earliest evidence for the use of some stimulants and hallucinogens is interesting because one wonders whether there was a particular reason for why they suddenly came into use. It's even more curious in the case of ayahuasca, because preparation of the concoction requires 2 otherwise mundane looking plants which must be prepared together, over an extended period of time, in order for their effect to be felt:
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Reader Comments
No surprises there.
Shaman were Soul carriers (psychopomps) used their knowledge of the Ayahuasca & Mescaline psychoactive/hallucinogenic/psychotropic effects to alter their tribe members inner states for pain mitigation or ‘Flying’ inter-dimensional trips into the inner world pre-death. Same as Greece/Rome/Egypt/Hindu did etc.
Reads to me from your comment, mind alliterating sustenance's have been on the margins of humanity. And not something that was widely accepted, from society as a whole.
If that is the case, if find it interesting, that these hallucinogenics are promoted at this time, as a panacea, for all sorts of psychological forms of dysfunctioin
Psychoactive and stimulant plants fulfilled an important role in the medicine, rituals and divination in ancient Peru. The arid climate of the southern Peruvian coast supports the preservation of organic remains. However, some psychoactive plants (like coca leaves or Banisteriopsis caapi ) are not native to the coastal region. Because of this, traceability of the consumption of long-distance trade plants is challenging, and their remains could have been easily overlooked in previous studies.The aim of this article is to present the results of the first toxicological analysis for individuals and trophy heads from the southern Peruvian coast. The results were correlated with iconographic and archaeological data for the consumption of psychoactive and stimulant plants from the Early Intermediate Period (EIP; 0-600 CE) until the Late Intermediate Period (1000-1476 CE) in the investigated area. The 22 individuals from the sites of Cahuachi (16), Estaqueria (1), and Yauca Valley (5; Fig. 1) were the subject of toxicological testing using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the presence of coca alkaloids and metabolites (cocaine, benzoylecgonine), and for mescaline, tryptamine, harmaline, and harmine.
The preservation of naturally mummified bodies in the Nazca drainage and Yauca Valley provided an opportunity to analyse for the first time which of the psychoactive plants were used on the southern Peruvian coast. Toxicological analysis allows us to better understand the ancient medicine, trade network and religiosity of the region of interest. Hair samples of 22 individuals (including four trophy heads) were examined using LC-MS/MS for the presence of coca alkaloids and metabolites (cocaine, benzoylecgonine, cocaethylene), mescaline, tryptamine, harmaline, and harmine. LC–MS/MS was performed using electrospray ionization (ESI) in the positive mode, multiple reaction monitoring, and a deuterated internal standard (Diazepam-D5). The limits of quantification achieved for analytes were from 1 to 5 ng/g. Recoveries ranged from 91,6 to 113,7%. The method demonstrated an intraday and interday precision CV of <15%.The results of the study show that coca leaves were present on the southern Peruvian coast since the Early Nazca Period (100 BCE - 450 CE). The Nazca inhabitants were also positive tested for the presence of harmine and harmaline coming probably form Banisteriopsis caapi (the main compound of the hallucinogenic ayahuasca beverage), and the San Pedro cactus, a source of mescaline . This is the oldest archaeological evidence of the consumption of these two plants. In modern medicine, the properties of harmine have led to its use in anti-depression and anti-addiction treatment. Banisteriopsis caapi is native to the Amazonian rainforest and had to be the object of long-distance trade, which showed its important role in ancient medicine and rituals. San Pedro cactus is taken for its strong hallucinogenic properties and was detected in hair belonging to a child victim whose head was transformed into a trophy head. This is the first proof that some of the victims transformed into trophy heads were given stimulants prior to their death.
3. Nazca trophy headsFour trophy heads of the Nazca culture were the object of the analysis. The ritual of headhunting was widespread in the pre-Hispanic Andes from the Pre-Ceramic Period (1800 BCE). The Nazca culture developed a complex mummification process of the heads of their victims (Verano, 2003). To this day, more than 150 specimens have been recovered from various sites of the Nazca culture. Nevertheless, the social origins of the victims remain unknown (Knudson et al., 2009; Tello, 1918; Uhle, 1914; Verano, 2003). According to some specialists, the victims were ritually killed as an act of veneration for the gods (Proulx 1999). During the Early Nazca Period, trophy heads were associated mainly with important divinities such as the Mythical Whale Killer and anthropomorphic felines (Orefici 2012a). The iconography of the Late Nazca Period, and the fact that most trophy heads belong to adult males, suggest that they could have been killed during warfare (Carmichael, 1995; Verano, 2003). The study of isotopes reveals that the victims were born in the Nazca drainage and that their diet was like that of the rest of the society
No thinking, the machine does it all, but then again you could have scanned and posted something from a book, and presented it as something from your own mind
And then again, you could have really posted something from your own mind, thoughts.
Who knows, in this time of the world, when, what is presented as a man or machine.
How many are aware of the difference?
VooDoo6 Jeeze, that is a lot of words and analysis, either you used this Chatgpt the new rage, for the unthinking mind. The new phenomenon, where you have no need to think any more, it just appears into text, ask it a question, lo and behold the answer appears, in a matter of seconds.No Joan. You’re totally not correct in your assessment or rude ad hominem words you chose to write above. I simply researched it posted a very accurate article for the benefit of other’s here who actually read. I cited a legit Journal of Archeological Science paper that explains far more than the original article that this article above was poached & parsed from Archeology magazine. You should read more.
No thinking, the machine does it all, but then again you could have scanned and posted something from a book, and presented it as something from your own mind
And then again, you could have really posted something from your own mind, thoughts.
Who knows, in this time of the world, when, what is presented as a man or machine.
How many are aware of the difference?
VooDoo6 Problem with archeology as a specialty is that they don't know when to quit (with descriptive details of what was found), and wander into lots of speculation about the meaning (interpretation) of findings. For example, san pedro IS native to the Andes, especially Ecuador and Peru, I think even in Chile and Argentina, even through to today. It is literally EVERYWHERE here. A neighbor had an 80 year old san pedro that had grown into a wall, and it crashed in a storm one night and took out a house! And while aya vine is indigenous to the amazon, the amazon is just 30 minutes or so drive from my house in the andes ... and I've seen the plant thrive in my neighborhood when planted. Also things like challiponga or chacunra (pardon my spelling, the carnival EDM woke me in middle of night) grow naturally here. The history here is ANCIENT and very little has been studied (I have personally walked through partly excavated archaelogical digs in Panama, for example, that existed in a woman's back yard, and in Ecuador along the coast, there were so many riches of archaeological pieces that entire museums were opened in Cuenca to house people's collections after it became illegal to own so many artifacts. But to speculate on reasons for usage (remembering that hair analysis looks back months to years of ingestion, not just RECENT ingestion, of any substance, using mass spec) confounds consideration of SO MANY other explanations. When I send in my hair for analysis for health purposes, I have to take a sample from within an inch of the scalp, and even then I have to identify any shampoo/hair products used within a 3 month period of time so they can exclude those from sample results. So why does it "always" have to be child sacrifice? Maybe the child was sick, the local healer administered medicines, they didn't work, and two months later the child died. And it wasn't a trophy head, maybe it was just a way of a semi-nomadic tribe to retain bits of bones to be buried in another location later? Just saying, it is so "easy" to ascribe things to indigenous peoples based on the "primitive native" theory ... meanwhile, during the dark ages, Europeans lived in poverty and filth, while Andeans lit up at night, partied with medicine and music, danced, traversed alternate realms, and basically watched color t.v. shows all night. And not just 2D t.v. shows, but immersive 3D experiential t.v. So for us to make any assumptions about what was found .....The additional link I provided holds a trove of more knowledge & information than the original link does. If people would actually read it they would know that by reading it & comprehending the information they processed. I don’t reply on the conscious morality of other’s who write stories/fiction/non-fiction/zscience to tell me the truth. I learned long ago to dig for it myself to unravel the Gordian knot of deception ass-edemia creates. No different than the Covid-19 medical hoax tyranny we still are extricating ourselves from. No magi-ck tricks just old fashioned straight up research using skill sets acquired from years of doing it professionally, period end of story. I agree with you & suffer the same frustration of assumption reasoning/logos about the issues & problems. Ass-edemia’s living in a CONTROLLED bubble of interdisciplinary protocols of habits & knowledge that has luckily shifted towards a more conscious awareness attitude of spirituality “ENTHEOS” & you guessed it by ingesting specific plants for their ENTHEOGENIC properties that has changed. I’m also aware that the Ayahuasca is also indigenous to the Andes of Peru. I have always held the notion & championed to challenge the status quo of ass-demia (which we already know is a lie) that the PTB Overlord Ubermensch are trying to steer the narrative to match or dovetail other twistorical lies. Of course generationally they keep changing it b/c the ARCH-itects already know that knowledge/details get lost in the transmission of Knowledge/gnosis.
ARCHaeological research grants are dubious joke at best & aren’t selected without prejudice. It is common knowledge that words/terms switch spellings do to different dialects that existed from different nomadic steppe groups. Same was true for SA or elsewhere. A lot of ARCH-aeological sites get destroyed in WARS by some extraordinary concatenated coincidences which I don’t beLIEve in. The Zcience of ARCH-aerological ass-edema is seriously flawed. They are not reporting the religious/rituals/creedo/superstitions/astrotheology true nature of their findings true spiritual nature & continually overlook this obvious flaw. Rituals/traditions/customs were their sole (Sun & Soul) ‘identity‘ way of life - religious/philosophical core beLIEf’s that were programmed habits based on a religious/spiritual belief which was based in social cohesion structure. We see everywhere in religions. Spirituality is what they eliminated from organized religion & don’t want people to self realize or become self aware.
Shaman operated on a different level @ that time. They passed around their tradition & elixirs orally. There was no hard drive it was in their heads & semiotic symbology they left in ritualistic drawings revealing the mechanistic methods/purpose/results/phenomenon.
Sacrifices of any sort are usually left void of any real information. The research paper actually tells us that the children were ‘high’ or under the influence of the entheogen psychoactive elixir which builds credence for the notion I wrote above about they were psychopomps / Boatmen / Birdmen Soul carriers to the over side. What we see from past twistory over & over is how easily people’s beLIEf’s were & can be manipulated.
If we/you/I want to change the existing reality, we have to change the system.
And the use of hallucinogenics, were nothing more than to entrance, children nd parents, the illusion of an after world, into sacrificing their children, for a greater good to save them from impending ecological disaster. And also save the tribe nd community.
I see parallels with today's society.
What was it that George Santayana said, I also add those that refuse to learn from the past. will continue to repeat in a never ending cycle and like the ourbris, will be forever, be chewing, the serpents tail.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
Or to put it another way, those that continually repeat the past, will be forever locked into a time loop of wash, rinse, repeat.
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