Ancient Psychoactive Substances by Fitzpatrick, Scott M.;

Short description:

Mind-altering substances have been used by humans for thousands of years. In fact, ancient societies sometimes encouraged the consumption of drugs. Focusing on the archaeological study of how various entheogens have been used in the past, this volume examines why humans have social and psychological needs for these substances.

Long description:

Mind-altering substances have been used by humans for thousands of years. In fact, ancient societies sometimes encouraged the consumption of drugs. Focusing on the archaeological study of how various entheogens have been used in the past, this volume examines why humans have social and psychological needs for these substances. Contributors trace the long-term use of drugs in ancient cultures and highlight the ways they evolved from being sacred to recreational in more modern times.

By analyzing evidence of these substances across a diverse range of ancient cultures, the contributors explore how and why past civilizations harvested, manufactured, and consumed drugs. Case studies examine the use of stimulants, narcotics, and depressants by hunter-gatherers who roamed Africa and Eurasia, prehistoric communities in North and South America, and Maya kings and queens.

Offering perspectives from many different fields of study, contributors illustrate the wide variety of sources and techniques that can provide information about materials that are often invisible to archaeologists. They use advanced biomolecular procedures to identify alkaloids and resins on cups, pipes, and other artifacts. They interpret paintings on vases and discuss excavations of breweries and similar sites. Uncovering signs of drugs, including ayahuasca, peyote, ephedra, cannabis, tobacco, yaupon, vilca, and maize and molle beer, they explain how psychoactive substances were integral to interpersonal relationships, religious practices, and social cohesion in antiquity.

Table of Contents:

• List of figures
• List of Table
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction. Drugs from a Deep Time Perspective. Scott M. Fitzpatrick and Mark D. Merlin
• Chapter 1. Cannabis in Ancient Central Eurasian Burials. Mark D. Merlin and Robert C. Clark
• Chapter 2. Intoxication on the Wine Dark Sea: Investigating Psychoactive Substances in the Eastern Mediterranean. Zuzana Chovanec
• Chapter 3. Ancient Use of Ephedra in the Eurasia and the Western Hemisphere. Mark D. Merlin
• Chapter 4. Prehistoric Intoxicants of North America. Sean M. Rafferty
• Chapter 5. Pipes, Cups, Platform Mounds, and Mortuary Ritual in the Lake Okeechobee Basin of South Florida. Victor D. Thompson and Thomas J. Pluckhahn
• Chapter 6. Power from, Power to, Power over? Ritual drug-taking and the social context of power among the indigenous people of the Caribbean. Quetta Kaye
• Chapter 7. Intoxication Rituals and Gender among the Ancient Maya. Daniel M. Seinfeld
• Chapter 8. Mayan Ritual Beverage Production: Considering the Ceramics. Jennifer Loughmiller-Cardinal
• Chapter 9. The Origins of the Ayahuasca/Yagé Concept (An inquiry into the synergy between DMT and β Carbolines. Constantino Manuel Torres
• Chapter 10. A Synonym for Sacred: Vilca use in the Pre-Conquest Andes. Matthew P. Sayre
• Chapter 11. Ingredients Matter: Maize versus molle brewing in ancient Andes feasting. Justin Jennings and Lidio M. Valdez
• Contributors
• Index