The growth of the pre-Incan civilization known as the Wari may have been aided by psychedelic-laced beer, researchers propose in a new study.
The Wari people flourished from approximately 600 to 1000 AD and are known for mummified burials, human sacrifices, and elaborate objects made of gold, silver, and bronze. They also built cities such as Huari and Piquillacta, containing temples and residences for elite residents, and took control of much of Peru and parts of Argentina and Chile.
In a new study published Monday (October 6) in the journal La Revista de Arqueología Americana (Journal of American Archeology), researchers suggest that Wari rulers used psychedelics mixed in beer to help grow their empire. They explain that the long-term effects of drinking this mixture, the “afterglow,” lasted for several weeks and would have brought people together at communal banquets where it was drunk. Psychedelic substances are quickly excreted from the body, but after-effects can last for days or weeks.
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The study authors noted that seed remains of a plant called Anadenanthera corubrina (also known as virca) were found at the Wari site, including near the remains of a beer made from a plant called sinus mole. Mixing virka, which is known to produce psychedelic effects, with beer would have “diminished but enhanced the high,” Justin Jennings, curator of South American archeology at the Royal Ontario Museum and co-author of the paper, told Live Science in an email.
In their paper, the authors said scientific studies of psychedelic drugs with similar effects found that people who took them tended to exhibit “greater tolerance and empathy.”
These characteristics “would have been highly desirable for a Wari political system that relied on friendly, daily face-to-face interactions between people who were once strangers or even enemies,” the researchers write in their paper.
People would have drunk psychedelic beer together at communal banquets held within the enclosed area of Wari officials’ residences. This common experience would have made the event even richer, the researchers said.
“When guests came to Wali’s property, they gathered on a patio that could comfortably fit only a few dozen people,” the team writes. “Except for a section of the sky, they were cut off from the rest of the world in an interior space surrounded by high walls, where they spent hours together drinking, eating, talking, and praying,” the researchers wrote in their paper.
“The time the participants spent together must have been an unforgettable collective experience that fostered strong bonds between participants,” they added.
build an empire
The regular and widespread use of psychedelic beer and its aftertaste played a key role in consolidating the Wari empire’s political power, said Jacob Kier, an independent scholar and co-author of the study.
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“The long-term psychological effects of drinking Birka beer several times a year may constitute a new cognitive normal, increasing openness and empathy in banquet participants,” the researchers wrote in their paper. “In the context of an expanding empire, where violence and hostility were commonplace, the lingering effects were [of consuming it] It may have been essential to legitimizing and strengthening the wali. ”
However, academics not involved in the study had mixed reactions to the paper’s conclusions. Patrick Ryan-Williams, director of Arizona State University’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change, said the team proposed an “interesting hypothesis” but cautioned that he could not be certain that virka was actually mixed into the beer.
“However, we are not convinced that the discovery of Birka seeds in areas where Moor beer was consumed is evidence that Birka was included as an ingredient in beer,” Williams said. That would be like finding cocaine on the floor of a nightclub and assuming the drug had been mixed into the drink.
“If we found chemical traces of virka in the ceramic pores of drinking cups, I would be more willing to accept the premise presented here,” Williams said.
Mary Glowacki, an archaeologist and chair of the Pre-Columbian Archeology Research Group, called the paper “thought-provoking” but noted that “most early Andean societies used intoxicating substances, including virca, in political negotiations.” She questioned whether the Wari’s use of psychedelics differed significantly from that of other groups in the region.
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