Modern sophisticated archeometric instruments are increasingly capable of detecting the presence of psychoactive plant sources in archeological contexts, testifying the antiquity of humanity’s search for altered states of consciousness. The purpose of this article is to provide a general picture of these findings, covering the main psychoactive plant sources of the world, and identifying the most ancient dates so far evidenced by archeology. This review is based on the archeological literature identifying the presence of psychoactive plant sources, relying on original research documents. The research produced two main results: (a) a systematization of the types of archeological evidence that testify the relationship between Homo sapiens and these psychoactive sources, subdivided into direct evidence (i.e., material findings, chemical, and genetic) and indirect evidence (i.e., anthropophysical, iconographic, literary, and paraphernalia); and (b) producing a list of the earliest known dates of the relationship of H. sapiens with the main psychoactive plant sources. There appears to be a general diffusion of the use of plant drugs from at least the Neolithic period (for the Old World) and the pre-Formative period (for the Americas). These dates should not to be understood as the first use of these materials, instead they refer to the oldest dates currently determined by either direct or indirect archeological evidence. Several of these dates are likely to be modified back in time by future excavations and finds.
The author presents his research on ethnology of psycho active mushrooms developed during the last 20 years. in the core of the Sahara Desert, on a group of rock paintings, dating back to 9000-7000 B.P., mushroom effigies are represented repeated ly. The polychrornic scenes of harvest. adoration, and the offe ring of mushroom s lead to suppose we are dealing with an ancient hallucinogenic mushroom c ult. Another signi ficant documentation refers to an old mushroom religious cult located in the Kerala State, India. It belongs to a megalithic, pre Lndoeuropean culture dating back to lhe 1st millennium B.e. The so-called kllda-kallu ("umbrella stone") may resemble a large mushroom. In Europe, an effigy of a mushroom, very likely fl y agaric, inserted in a scene with shamani stic connotations, is calved on a rock engraving of Mount Bego, France, dating back to 1800 R.e. FtlIther important archaeo-ethnomycological documentation is to be found in the Greek culture. in particular, in a 5th century B.e. bas relief from PharsaJus, the two goddesses of the Eleusin ian Mysteries, Demete r and Persephone, are represented, showing each other objects, two of which have a mushroom like shape. This bas relie f takes us to the very heart of the controversial issue of the Eleusinian ethnobotany. Finally, various ex.amples of the so-called "mushroom trees" to be foun d in early and medieval Chri stian artwork from a number of churche s are discussed. The se works of art are cons idered from the pOi nt of view of the poss ible esoteric intention of the artists in their inc lusion off he mushroom mot if. The typologi cal differentiation among the " mushroom trees" would appear due to a natura l variation among psyc hoactive mushrooms. KEY 'VORDS: Ethnomycology, archaeology, psychoactive or ha llucinogenic mu shrooms. FIGURE 3. Rock painting from Aouanrhat, Tassili , FtGURE 4. Rock painting from Matalem-Amazar, Tas Algeria. sili, Algeria.
Objetivo: identificar de los escritos italianos más antiguos que se conocen la información acerca del uso de fuentes embriagantes empleadas por las poblaciones nativas del Nuevo Mundo. Metodología: búsqueda y atenta lectura de textos antiguos fechados a partir del final del siglo XV. Resultados: se evalúan los textos de Pietro Martire D’Anghiera, donde aparecen noticias del empleo del polvo alucinógeno para inhalar, llamado cohoba entre los antiguos indios taínos. El idioma de estos textos es el latín (1511) y el italiano a partir de 1534. Esta nueva datación implica una prioridad cronológica europea hasta ahora poco reconocida y que se pretende reevaluar con este estudio. Asimismo, se identifica el primer dibujo occidental de un hombre que inhala polvos embriagantes, en una obra de Salvatore Gilii fechada en 1781. Finalmente, se describen las primeras referencias a la ayahuasca en escritos italianos, a partir de una obra de 1850 de Gaetano Osculati.
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