"Alcohol and drugs: Not just for modern humans" Topic
9 Posts
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Tango01 | 14 May 2014 12:34 p.m. PST |
"Unlike most modern humans, the prehistoric people of Europe did not use mind-altering substances simply for their hedonistic pleasure. The use of alcohol and plant drugs -- such as opium poppies and hallucinogenic mushrooms -- was highly regulated and went hand-in-hand with the belief system and sacred burial rituals of many preindustrial societies. Elisa Guerra-Doce of the Universidad de Valladolid in Spain contends that their use was an integral part of prehistoric beliefs, and that these substances were believed to aid in communication with the spiritual world. Guerra-Doce's research appears in Springer's Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. Despite the fact that the consumption of these substances is as ancient as human society itself, it is only fairly recently that researchers have started to look into the historical and cultural contexts in which mind-altering products were used in Europe. To add to the body of literature about the anthropology of intoxication in prehistoric European societies, Guerra-Doce systematically documented the cultural significance of consuming inebriating substances in these cultures.In the research, four different types of archaeological documents were examined: the macrofossil remains of the leaves, fruits or seeds of psychoactive plants; residues suggestive of alcoholic beverages; psychoactive alkaloids found in archaeological artifacts and skeletal remains from prehistoric times; and artistic depictions of mood-altering plant species and drinking scenes. These remnants include bits of the opium poppy in the teeth of a male adult in a Neolithic site in Spain, charred Cannabis seeds in bowls found in Romania, traces of barley beer on several ceramic vessels recovered in Iberia, and abstract designs in the Italian Alps that depict the ritual use of hallucinogenic mushrooms.Because Guerra-Doce mainly found traces of sensory-altering products in tombs and ceremonial places, she believes such substances are strongly linked to ritual usage. They were consumed in order to alter the usual state of consciousness, or even to achieve a trance state
" Full article here link Vive le booze! (smile). Amicalement Armand |
zippyfusenet | 14 May 2014 12:49 p.m. PST |
In The Mummies of Urumchi, Elizabeth Wayland Barber covers, among other topics, psychoactive drugs found with the mummies (ephedra twigs), and the possible role of the divine drink soma in early Indo-European culture. link The Greeks claimed that Bacchus came from Phoenecia and brought The Good Stuff with him, and it does seem that oenos, vinus and wine all derive from the Semitic yayin. |
Coyotepunc and Hatshepsuut | 14 May 2014 2:34 p.m. PST |
This is another example of current belief systems coloring the outlook on earlier belief systems. Of course, the derived conclusions may be valid, but without a concrete idea of what the earlier belief system.actually was (with associated evidence,) it is just a shot in the dark. Maybe those early guys just liked getting high , and the leftovers are from a Neolithic wake, no more ritualistic than the pile of empty whiskey bottles my Irish family leaves behind for a week or so after someone dies. |
John D Salt | 14 May 2014 3:30 p.m. PST |
Anyone suggesting that Irish whiskey consumption is not ritualistic has clearly not consumed enough Irish whiskey. Or too much. All the best, John. |
StarfuryXL5 | 14 May 2014 4:16 p.m. PST |
Damned if you do and damned if you don't. |
John the Greater | 15 May 2014 10:47 a.m. PST |
Maybe they are finding these things in tombs because the folks were killed while driving their chariots under the influence? |
TwinMirror | 27 May 2014 5:55 a.m. PST |
Funny that the article assumes that contemporary people only use mind-altering substances for their 'hedonistic pleasure' – many experiment in order to understand the nature/constructedness of conciousness, or for medical and psychological therapeutic purposes. Not that such things can't also be fun
Have to agree with punkrabbit too – we can at best only make educated guesses as to how, why, in what contexts and how often prehistoric peoples were employing mind-altering substances. In any case, I seriously doubt that, even if generally reserved for rituals, there weren't people who just wanted to get off their heads now and then. |
TelesticWarrior | 05 Jun 2014 3:07 a.m. PST |
The importance of psycho-active enthogenic plants and substances in human history, culture and spiritual practices cannot be over-estimated in my opinion. Whilst what Punkrabbit says is broadly true, there are a number of reasons that we can be confident in ascribing motivations for the use of these shamanic techniques in early human societies. For one, many of these cultures have modern direct descendants existing as hunter-gatherer shamanically-led societies that are still using the same methods. Also, paleolithic cave-art shows that the people that were using these sacred substances as agents of spiritual exploration and growth depicted much of the same geometric images and mythical symbolism as what modern explorers also encounter/use.
It's a fascinating subject, in my opinion it is the most important subject that a human being can ever study. For an academic explanation of this subject by the worlds foremost expert check out the work of Professor Lewis-Williams; link YouTube link
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TwinMirror | 06 Jun 2014 6:30 a.m. PST |
All your points are valid TelesticWarrior, and I agree entirely that the importance of psycho-actives in the development of human consciousness and culture is currently greatly underestimated. I'm familiar with a fair bit of anthropological work on the subject – mesoamerica and in particular late period central highlands is my speciality – and from my researches, while it's clear most use of psychotropic agents took place in ritualised, regulated (and socially-sanctioned) environments, we also have record of private, unlicensed and more hedonistic use. But of course, even such seemingly hedonistic use would have partaken of the same mythic/magical associations and understandings as the socially-sanctioned uses, and thus come under or respond to the same sets of hopes, taboos, and punishments (imagined or real). A crude analogy might be with, in our own age, the spectrum of alchohol use: periodic abstinance, condoned, sanctioned drinking – christmas, weddings, etc, 'reasonable' social drinking (public and private parties, evenings out), and 'problem' social drinking (public and private excess, youth drinking, alcoholism). In other words, liminal or transgressive use also tends to inform and define acceptable and conventional use. So I think the role of psychoactives and in any particular society needs (like anything else) to be broadened and its subtleties and contradictions explored to present anything like a realistic picture. Even where strong tendencies and patterns exist in a culture, there are always telling exceptions – cultures, even seemingly 'primitive' and 'technologically static' ones, are dynamic structures in constant tension, that change over time. |
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