A vast empire that flourished in the Andean region of South America,
Inca were a gifted civilization. They didn’t invent the wheel, a writing system,
or a currency but still managed to create a vast network of roads, an ingenious accounting system,
and knew how to perform brain surgeries. They also knew how to daze and party with over 80 to
100 different species of psychoactive plants! Welcome to Nutty History and today let’s find
out what drugs were common among the Incas and their predecessor Wari civilization.
Snow White may have been the most recognized drug of the South Americas in modern times but during
antiquity, that title belonged to Ayahuasca. Also known as Yagé, this native plant of amazon was
extremely popular among shamans and healers for its medicinal properties. Considered safer than
booze but a lot more intense than grass, shamans would often mix it with another plant called
Chacruna to create a concoction that would help them connect to the spirit world and its secrets.
The name Ayahuasca comes from the Quechua word that means “Liana de la Muerte” or “Rope of the
dead.” According to historians, ayahuasca had been in use in the Andes long before the Incas
or Wari flourished in the land, tracing its roots back to as long as five thousand years.
Incans and Wari shamans believed that the plant was the medium to connect with one’s inner self.
The ritual to drink the concoction wasn’t a simple chug, shamans would perform prayers
and songs before one could bring the mug close to their lips. It was also important that the
subject should not have eaten foods such as meat, milk, and alcohol and also must not have recently
participated in any carnal activity. The psychic effects of the concoction would supposedly last
nearly six hours and the subject would describe the experience as meeting their inner self
in a sort of a fantasy land filled with evergreen forests and surrounded by animals such as the boa,
otorongo, vipers, pumas, and condor. Something similar to what T’Challa saw when he was asked
to consume the heart-shaped herb in Black Panther. Acid and mushrooms may make you trip,
but ayahuasca heals. Chemistry tells us that ayahuasca is a mix of jungle fauna with DMT,
a powerful, epiphany-inducing hallucinogen. The effects of ayahuasca can be intense as
it can induce psychological introspection, elation, fear, magic, and self-realization.
The shamans would help the subject to make sense of what they were experiencing and guide
them towards the wisdom they need to attain for healing. Ayahuasca can also cause severe vomiting
which shamans believed was the process of the body purging negative energy worth of lifetime.
The drug was also consumed as an antidepressant and thus was commonly used to play an important
part in the Capacocha ritual. Capacocha was a prominent ceremony of the Inca empire
in which humans and material goods were sacrificed in the belief that this could help avert natural
disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or droughts. It was also performed to coincide
with political events. In 1995, researchers came across sacrificed individuals on the Ampato
volcano in southern Peru while on an expedition. They discovered the burials of two children,
estimated to have been aged between 6 and 7 years old, as well as objects made of silver
and gold. It is thought the children were a part of a sacrifice more than 500 years ago. After
toxicology tests were performed on their corpses, they showed positive signs of chemicals that can
be found in ayahuasca. According to Spanish chronicles, it was important for Incas that
children chosen for rituals must go happy to the gods. Ayahuasca must have been administered to
them during the pilgrimage from Cuzco to the summit to calm their nerves. Another
interesting compound found in the toxicology tests of these kids’ remains was snow white.
The antiquity of coca use is well established through archaeological studies in South and
Central America. Mummified human remains have been found in Northern Chile that confirmed the use of
Coca Leaves back in 1000 BC. Under Incan rule, coca leaves were used for numerous purposes,
including ritual, social, and physiological uses. A legend often told in the Andes shares
the tale of Kuka, a woman who used her charms to take advantage of men until
word of her misdeeds reached the Great Inca’s ears and he ordered her sacrifice.
After her burial, a miraculous plant sprouted from her grave, and the people called it coca, in honor
of the beautiful Kuka. Quite fitting some might say. Coca leaves have been used for centuries in
the Andes to stave off hunger, thirst, and fatigue as life high up in the hills can be quite harsh.
Coca leaves served this purpose when crops were low and energy was needed to lug big Incan stones.
It was nowhere near as harmful as ingesting through the nostril. It helped Incan people to
feel more awake and euphoric to work. Chewing the coca leaf was also recommended as a way
to heal toothaches, stomach aches, and other physical discomforts, by the ancient doctors
or Inca shamans. Apart from consumption, coca leaves were also used by the Inca amautas or
sages to predict the future. They would throw the coca leaves in the air and let them settle
down on dropping to observe them for omens and signs of what gods had in store for them.
“Red as a beet, dry as a bone, blind as a bat, mad as a hatter, and hot as a hare.” No, we are
not reading a quote from Alice in Wonderland but telling you what a person may look like when they
are under the effect of Angel’s trumpet. One of the most dangerous hallucinogens used by Incans,
the Angel’s trumpet was considered as sacred as coca leaves by the priests of Inca and Wari. Also
known as Inca Sun or Inca’s Queen, Angel’s trumpet required extreme care in administration as even a
bit of an overdose could kill a person. Why? The alkaloids of this plant are highly poisonous and
have earned Angel’s Trumpet or Brug-man-sia a spot in the world’s top ten deadliest plants.
This pretty little flower would give Incas hallucinations that can spiral to the end of the
world. The priests of the Andean peoples smoked the leaves so that they could make prophecies,
divine, and diagnose. These magical and sorcery-related ceremonies were their way
to understand a mysterious ailment or find a missing object or person.
There were also rituals for the purpose of inflicting harm, purification,
exorcism, and such; involving the external or internal use of Angel’s trumpet. Medicinally,
leaves of angel’s trumpet were applied as ointment, tincture, and poultice transdermally on
the skin. It was used as a painkiller and as an anti-inflammatory. Angel’s trumpet’s seeds were
also crushed and added to chicha before it was fed to wives and slaves along with tobacco leaves so,
they would become docile and could be buried alive as a part of their ritual/ tradition.
Ok, this just got creepy! We may have introduced Chicha with a grim note but this beverage was
responsible for saving so many lives in ancient Peru! According to archaeologists,
Chicha played an important role in the culture of Wari who ruled much of the Peruvian coast
and southern Andes between six hundred and one thousand AD. Chicha was basically their antiquity
equivalent of champagne to celebrate with neighbors and foster political and economic ties,
thus avoiding violent conflicts and saving lives. The discovery of a Wari brewery at Quilcapampa in
the Sihuas Valley revealed that this alcoholic beverage was perhaps originally brewed
from the molle tree. Archaeologists also found 1,100-year-old traces of potatoes,
quinoa, and peanuts, along with a staggering number of berry-like fruits from the molle tree,
which the Wari often used to make chicha with an alcohol content of roughly 5 percent.
Among the soaked or boiled fruits leftover from making chicha were psychotropic vilca seeds from
the Anadenanthera colubrina tree. Archaeological evidence shows vilca was used as a hallucinogen
in ancient South America, but usually only by political and religious elites. Vilca has a long
history of use in South America, with evidence of Vilca being used at Inca Cueva in a 4,000
year-old-pipe, and the neighboring Tiwanaku inhaling the drug as a snuff. The Wari elite
incorporated the hallucinogen into communal feasts to cement social relationships and highlight state
hospitality. This inclusive strategy may have been important for reinforcing Wari's political
control. Later, the Inca Empire also followed the Wari communal style of drug use. Although
they preferred the group consumption of large quantities of maize brew chicha rather than vilca.
Echinopsis pachanoi is a type of cactus that grows at high altitudes in the Andes Mountains
and contains the hallucinogenic compound mescaline. Yes, just like peyote! When
the colonial Spanish arrived, they attempted to suppress the use of this cactus in their zeal to
convert everybody to Christianity. They failed miserably to stop the Incas from smoking and
drinking this cactus so they settled for giving this plant a Christian name. In what was likely
recognition of the plant’s powers, the cactus was named after the apostle San Pedro, or Saint Peter.
As you may know, he is known as the guardian of the gates to worlds that are unseen.
This plant has been depicted for thousands of years on ancient Andean pottery, textiles,
and stone sculptures long before the Incas or Wari. Often depicted as staff being held by the
part human, part snarling beast carvings of the Chavin culture, this plant has historically been
consumed by humans for at least three thousand years. Archaeologists believed that hallucinations
caused by the San Pedro cactus may have Chavin Shamans believe that they were transformed into
mythical beasts and therefore such carvings exist. During Incan times, San Pedro was drunk as tea,
like ayahuasca while sitting around a bonfire with a shaman administering the ritual.
The effects were pretty similar to ayahuasca as well. Experiencing travel to the astral plane,
feeling a deep connection with the earth, and higher clarity along with gut-wrenching,
soul-cleansing convulsions! So, did we miss any important hallucinogens of Incan times?
Tell us in the comments and as always thanks for watching Nutty History.