Ancient Psychoactive Substances

Description

“This well-researched and fascinating volume not only demonstrates the important cultural role of psychoactive substances in ancient societies but also points the way to an emerging research field. The unveiling of the past history of drug use becomes a lesson for present-day society.”—Jan G. Bruhn, founding editor, Journal of Ethnopharmacology   “Presents a broad overview of drug plants and fermented beverages by using anthropological, ethnological, archaeological, iconographic, chemical, and botanical approaches. Essential reading.”—Elisa Guerra Doce, author of Drugs in Prehistory: Archaeological Evidence of the Use of Psychoactive Substances in Europe   Tracing evidence of mind-altering substances across a diverse range of ancient cultures, this collection explores 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 identity 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.     Cover ANCIENT PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES Title Copyright CONTENTS List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Drugs from a Deep Time Perspective 1. Cannabis in Ancient Central Eurasian Burials 2. Intoxication on the Wine Dark Sea: Investigating Psychoactive Substances in the Eastern Mediterranean 3. Ancient Use of Ephedra in Eurasia and the Western Hemisphere 4. Prehistoric Intoxicants of North America 5. Pipes, Cups, Platform Mounds, and Mortuary Ritual in the Lake Okeechobee Basin of South Florida 6. Power From, Power To, Power Over? Ritual Drug-Taking and the Social Context of Power among the Indigenous People of the Caribbean 7. Intoxication Rituals and Gender among the Ancient Maya 8. Mayan Ritual Beverage Production: Considering the Ceramics 9. The Origins of the Ayahuasca/Yagé Concept: An Inquiry into the Synergy between Dimethyltryptamine and Beta-Carbolines 10. A Synonym for Sacred: Vilca Use in the Preconquest Andes 11. Ingredients Matter: Maize versus Molle Brewing in Ancient Andean Feasting List of Contributors Index