Did hallucinogenic booze fuel politics in ancient Peru?...
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A discovery in a 1,100-year-old Wari outpost suggests that powerful, communal intoxicants may have helped foster alliances.
The peaceful, easy feeling derived from a mix of hallucinogenic drugs and alcoholic drink may have been a key to political power in coastal Peru a millennium ago, according to a study published today in the journal Antiquity.
Archaeologists have long recognized the role that chicha, a beer-like beverage still consumed today, played in the culture of the Wari who ruled much of the Peruvian coast and southern Andes between around A.D. 600 and 1000. Wari elites would host elaborate parties for their neighbors, and copious amounts of chicha would help foster political and economic ties.
Now, the discovery of psychotropic plant remains in a Wari “brewery” is leading researchers to suggest that the Wari may have also combined the two intoxicants for a brew with an even bigger political punch.
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https://www.nationalgeographic.com/h...s-ancient-peru