Archaeological evidence indicates humans discovered some of the psychoactive substances still in use today eons ago

Feb 3, 2015 09:22 GMT  ·  By

In a report published in yesterday's issue of Time and Mind: The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture, researcher Elisa Guerra-Doce with Spain's University of Valladolid and fellow historians argue that we humans have been consuming magic mushrooms and other psychoactives for millennia.

Thus, archaeological evidence uncovered over the years indicates that, even in prehistoric times, psychoactive plants and a whole lot of brews made from them were quite popular all across the globe.

“The relationship between humans and psychoactive substances can be traced back over millennia,” University of Valladolid specialist Elisa Guerra-Doce and colleagues write in their study.

The thing is that, all things considered, chances are that our ancestors did not turn to psychoactives purely for recreational purposes, as some guys and gals do in this day and age. On the contrary, they most likely consumed magic mushrooms and the like as part of religious rituals.

Psychoactives were quite popular in prehistoric times

Researcher Elisa Guerra-Doce says that, while studying the teeth of humans that populated Eurasia in prehistoric times, scientists found them to sport reddish spots. These spots indicate that, around 2600 B.C., our ancestors in Eurasia used to chew on a plant dubbed betel.

This plant is still consumed by people living in Asia and contains compounds that give it psychoactive properties. Thus, studies carried out over the years have shown that this plant stimulates the nervous system and can even cause people to experience a euphoria-like state.

As far as magic mushrooms are concerned, it appears that sculptures showing such fleshy funguses have so far been unearthed at several sites in Mesoamerica, among which regions in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Besides, ancient rock paintings in Spain appear to also show magic mushrooms.

Specialists say that, since the sculptures discovered in Mesoamerica date back to between the years 500 B.C. and 900 A.D., it's safe to assume that, in those days, people living in this corner of the world turned to magic mushrooms as a means to toy with their own mind quite often.

Poppy, which is still added to food in this day and age, was used as a narcotic in Italy and possibly in other regions in Europe as well as early as 5500 BC. Thus, specialists say that traces of opium poppy capsules are detectable on the teeth of a male skeleton found in Spain not long ago. This skeleton dates back to around 3000 B.C.

Finally, researcher Elisa Guerra-Doce says that the San Pedro cactus, known to cause powerful hallucinations when consumed, was quite popular in South America as early as 5600 B.C., maybe even 8600 B.C. It is believed that, in those days, the cactus was chiefly consumed during healing ceremonies, Live Science explains.

These hallucinogens are still used around the world

Some might be tempted to think that, what with the so-called war on drugs playing out on a global scale, folks have pretty much put their psychoactives days behind them. As surprising as this may sound, this is not actually the case.

On the contrary, researchers say that people living in the Andean mountains of South America still turn to the San Pedro cactus when performing healing ceremonies. The same is true for magic mushrooms, although some are now in the habit of consuming them just for the fun of it.