A recent study has linked hallucinogen substance consumption to the ancient Andean civilization of the Tiwanaku, the ancestors of the Inca people based on direct evidence. This places the drug usage phenomenon further back in time than previously believed, while also providing a solid ground for the indirect proof found to date, consisting of drug consumption tools or the discovery of hallucinogenic plants remains in mixtures for sniffing.

 

A team from the University of Tarapaca in Arica, Chile, led by the chemical archaeologist Juan Pablo Ogalde, studied a number of 32 mummies found in the Azapa Valley in the northern part of Chile, naturally preserved by the desert sand. These mummies were identified as belonging to individuals of the fairly unknown Tiwanaku civilization, who ruled the Andes region for about 3,000 years, spreading from Bolivia and Peru, to Argentina and Chile.

 

A previous research indicated the presence of the Vilca tree (Anadenanthera colubrina), the seeds of which are highly hallucinogenic. “At least in view of the grave goods, the Tiwanaku people were using hallucinogenic drugs. Surprisingly, none of the 32 mummies tested positive for hallucinogens consumption related to this plant,” states Ogalde. Still, the analysis of the hairs of a male adult and of a one-year-old child dating from 800 to 1200 AD indicated the presence of the harmine hallucinogenic alkaloid.

 

Surely, the presence of the substance in the child was the result of breastfeeding but, as the nose lesions traces on the adult mummy, as well as the ornate snuffing kit buried next to it indicate, the older person was a regular sniffer. “The only plant in South America that contain harmine is the jungle vine Banisteriopsis caapi, also known as ayahuasca. But this plant does not grow in the Azapa valley,” says Ogalde, indicating that the locals would have traveled hundreds of miles to procure it from the Amazon rainforest.

 

“We think that Banisteriopsis was not necessarily used as a hallucinogenic mixture, and perhaps was used in therapeutic practices. It is also possible that its consumption with snuffing kits was used as element of social differentiation,” Ogalde concludes.