Drugs: ceremonial use 2,800 years ago in Spain – 04/06/2023 – Psychedelic Turn

The use of mind-altering substances in rituals, from ayahuasca to alcohol and from psychedelic mushrooms to marijuana, has already been documented in 9 out of 10 native peoples. There is now direct proof of its use in Europe, 2,800 years ago, in a cave on the island of Menorca, Spain.

The discovery by Elisa Guerra-Doce’s group brought rare direct evidence of alkaloids such as scopolamine, atropine and ephedrine in strands of hair. It is more common to find traces of plants or psychoactive drinks in utensils, not in human samples.

Guerra-Doce, from the University of Valladolid, worked with researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the University of Chile. The work “Direct Evidence of Multiple Drug Use in Menorca in the Bronze Age by Analysis of Human Hair” appeared in Scientific Reports.

In the interpretation of archaeologists, the strands of hair found and analyzed must have belonged to a priest or shaman. They were not found in the main nave of the Es Càrritx cave, which houses the remains of 210 individuals deposited over six centuries, but in a separate, sealed chamber.

They were in one of the three olive wood vase compartments, whose lid appears in the opening image of this text. The 13 cm long threads had been cut and dyed red, evidence that the elaborate deposition served to preserve the remains of a special person, possibly a shaman who continuously consumed drugs for healing or divination purposes.

The lid of the container bears traces of circular inscriptions similar to those found on artifacts from other cultures. Concentric circles and spirals are usually interpreted as referring to eyes and visions. The vase had three perforations for carrying cords and for securing the lid.

“Considering the potential toxicity of alkaloids found in hair, their handling, use and applications represented highly specialized knowledge”, argues the article. “Such knowledge was typically held by shamans, who were able to control the side effects of plant drugs amidst the ecstasy that made diagnoses and divinations possible.”

The hair underwent a toxicological analysis like the one carried out today to detect the use of prohibited substances. It revealed traces of the alkaloids scopolamine, atropine, and ephedrine in concentrations indicative of continuous use for at least a year before the subject’s death.

Ephedrine, a stimulant that usually appears in anti-doping tests, must have come from ingesting the bush. ephedra fragilis, present in Menorca. Atropine and scopolamine probably resulted from ingestion of the plants datura stramonium, Hyoscyamus albumif Mandragora automnaliswhich also occur on the island.

Datura has several common names related to delusions and witchcraft, such as devil’s chestnut and spellweed. It can also be called a trumpet, a designation that it shares with the also hallucinogenic Brugmansia suaveolensnative to southeastern Brazil and used ritually or recreationally here and in other parts of America.

The convergence in the use of mind-modifying substances among populations that are three millennia and thousands of kilometers apart reinforces the hypothesis that this is a universal impulse, as advocated by psychopharmacologist Ronald Siegel.

When he speaks of universal, Siegel means more than transcultural – biological, even. A basic need like eating, drinking, and sex: “Almost all animal species engage in the natural pursuit of intoxicants,” he writes in the preface to the 2004 reprint of his book “Intoxication” (1989).

“This ‘fourth impulse’ [drive] it’s a natural part of our biology, which creates an irrepressible demand for drugs,” he says. “In a sense, the war on drugs is a war against ourselves, a denial of our own nature.”

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NOTICE TO NAVIGATORS – Psychedelics are still experimental therapies and certainly do not constitute a panacea for all psychic disorders, nor should they be the subject of self-medication. Speak with your therapist or doctor before venturing into the area.

To learn more about the history and new developments of science in this area, including in Brazil, look for my book “Psiconautas – Viagens com a Ciência Psychedelica Brasileira”.

On the tendency to legalize the therapeutic and adult use of psychedelics in the US, see the article “Cogumelos Livres” in the December 2022 issue of Piauí magazine.

Be sure to also see the articles in the series “A Ressurreição da Jurema” in Folha:

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