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Ancient Psychoactive Substances

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advanced biomolecular procedures
Africa
Alcoholism
ancient societies
antiquity
artifacts
ayahuasca
cannabis
Category=JHMC
Category=NHC
Category=NK
consumption of drugs
depressants
drugs in ancient cultures
entheogens
ephedra
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eq_history
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Eurasia
excavations of breweries
harvest
human
hunter-gatherers
identify alkaloids
maize and molle beer
manufacture
Maya kings and queens
Mind-altering substances
modern times
narcotics
North and South America
past civilizations
peyote
pipes
prehistoric communities
recreational
religious practices
resins on cups
sacred
social and psychological needs
social cohesion
stimulants
tobacco
vilca
yaupon

Product details

  • ISBN 9780813068183
  • Weight: 489g
  • Dimensions: 155 x 233mm
  • Publication Date: 31 Mar 2020
  • Publisher: University Press of Florida
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Paperback
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Description
Mind-altering substances have been used by humans for thousands of years. In fact, ancient societies sometimes encouraged the consumption of drugs. Focusing on the archaeological study of how various entheogens have been used in the past, this volume examines why humans have social and psychological needs for these substances. Contributors trace the long-term use of drugs in ancient cultures and highlight the ways they evolved from being sacred to recreational in more modern times.

By analyzing evidence of these substances across a diverse range of ancient cultures, the contributors explore how and why past civilizations harvested, manufactured, and consumed drugs. Case studies examine the use of stimulants, narcotics, and depressants by hunter-gatherers who roamed Africa and Eurasia, prehistoric communities in North and South America, and Maya kings and queens.

Offering perspectives from many different fields of study, contributors illustrate the wide variety of sources and techniques that can provide information about materials that are often invisible to archaeologists. They use advanced biomolecular procedures to identify alkaloids and resins on cups, pipes, and other artifacts. They interpret paintings on vases and discuss excavations of breweries and similar sites. Uncovering signs of drugs, including ayahuasca, peyote, ephedra, cannabis, tobacco, yaupon, vilca, and maize and molle beer, they explain how psychoactive substances were integral to interpersonal relationships, religious practices, and social cohesion in antiquity.
About
Scott M. Fitzpatrick, professor of archaeology at the University of Oregon, is coeditor of Island Shores, Distant Pasts: Archaeological and Biological Approaches to the Pre-Columbian Settlement of the Caribbean.