Beer and drugs helped a South American empire rule, study finds
Written by on June 2, 2023
Peru’s Wari Empire likely mixed hallucinogenic seeds with beer to help leaders cement relationships with ordinary people over 1,000 years ago, a study shows.
Researchers have analysed botanical remains of seeds from the vilca tree, used as hallucinogens for thousands of years, that were found in Quilcapampa, Peru.
During communal feasts, hallucinogenic seeds were added to a beer-like fermented drink called chicha made from the molle tree, the analysis indicates, ‘to enhance the psychoactive effects of both’.
Communal drug use reinforced Wari control by both cementing relationships at feasts and making the Wari leadership important as the drug providers, experts say.
Their study marks the first evidence of consumption of the hallucinogenic vilca tree in the Wari Empire, which ruled the highlands of Peru from AD 600 to 1000, prior to the famous Inca Empire.
Researchers have yet to establish why the Wari Empire collapsed prior to the era of the Incas between the 13th and 16th centuries.
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These molle drupes were used to make an alcoholic beverage called chicha.This sample was excavated in Quilcapampa, Peru
Vilca seed recovered from Quilcapampa (scale in cm). Vilca is a common name Anadenanthera colubrina, a species of tree with potent seeds used for thousands of years
The new study is based on survey and excavations that took place at Quilcapampa, Peru between 2013 and 2017
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