4 ms·

Prehistoric High Times: Early Humans Used Magic Mushrooms, Opium

26 points by diodorus 12y ago

wutbrodo 12y ago
I wonder if this will make it into the books on the Paleo diet. More seriously, a lot of the conversation around drugs assumed that drugs (from which alcohol is inconsistently excluded) are an unnatural and uncontrollable modern disease. This is also the perspective that predominates in political discussion. The understanding that the low level of drug use "accepted" by modern society is as much a cultural construct as higher levels in the past would go a long way into making our drug policy more sane.
zinkem 12y ago
Terrence McKenna explores this hypothesis in his book 'Food of the Gods.' Part speculation, part historical account of the role of chemicals in human culture. Great read if you're interested in this kind of thing.
yawz 12y ago
When I visited Newgrange in Ireland, one of the theories behind the drawings was the use of hallucinogenics. [http://anyasgarden.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Newgrange_Ireland.jpg http://anyasgarden.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Newgr...]
- contingencies 12y ago
  Hrrm, certainly looks believably like the visual effect of hallucinogens, doesn't it? Strangely, I saw a program on those Irish sites just yesterday spanning from Sligo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Sligo#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Sligo#History in the west to Meath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Meath#Places_of_interest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Meath#Places_of_interes... in the east which seemed to be implying that the circles represented a religious movement that was pan-European and demonstrably encompassed at least north-western France, Ireland, and northern Scotland. They also divided it in to two periods, an earlier 'earth worship' phase and a later 'sky worship' phase, though much of the interpretation seemed to be pretty close to pure conjecture, they did identify advances in astronomy may have enabled superior navigation leading to technology exchange, seasonal migration, better timed fishing expeditions and wealth from trade. The program also featured a single glyph inside a monolithic grave. Clearly there was some form of pictographic script coming in to use at the time.
Ologn 12y ago
Actually, wheat (triticum) has opiods, and a small percentage of people have hyper-sensitive reactions to those opiods. It's quite possible that wheat was originally harvested not to make bread but to get people high. There are scientific papers on the psychoactive effects of Triticum.
contingencies 12y ago
Betel is a really good buzz and clearly has medicinal utility. If you get a chance, try it! Don't worry, your teeth won't change color overnight... that takes years.

26 points by diodorus 12y ago

I wonder if this will make it into the books on the Paleo diet. More seriously, a lot of the conversation around drugs assumed that drugs (from which alcohol is inconsistently excluded) are an unnatural and uncontrollable modern disease. This is also the perspective that predominates in political discussion. The understanding that the low level of drug use "accepted" by modern society is as much a cultural construct as higher levels in the past would go a long way into making our drug policy more sane.

zinkem 12y ago

Terrence McKenna explores this hypothesis in his book 'Food of the Gods.' Part speculation, part historical account of the role of chemicals in human culture. Great read if you're interested in this kind of thing.

yawz 12y ago

When I visited Newgrange in Ireland, one of the theories behind the drawings was the use of hallucinogenics. [http://anyasgarden.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Newgrange_Ireland.jpg http://anyasgarden.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Newgr...]

contingencies 12y ago
Hrrm, certainly looks believably like the visual effect of hallucinogens, doesn't it? Strangely, I saw a program on those Irish sites just yesterday spanning from Sligo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Sligo#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Sligo#History in the west to Meath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Meath#Places_of_interest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Meath#Places_of_interes... in the east which seemed to be implying that the circles represented a religious movement that was pan-European and demonstrably encompassed at least north-western France, Ireland, and northern Scotland. They also divided it in to two periods, an earlier 'earth worship' phase and a later 'sky worship' phase, though much of the interpretation seemed to be pretty close to pure conjecture, they did identify advances in astronomy may have enabled superior navigation leading to technology exchange, seasonal migration, better timed fishing expeditions and wealth from trade. The program also featured a single glyph inside a monolithic grave. Clearly there was some form of pictographic script coming in to use at the time.

Ologn 12y ago

Actually, wheat (triticum) has opiods, and a small percentage of people have hyper-sensitive reactions to those opiods. It's quite possible that wheat was originally harvested not to make bread but to get people high. There are scientific papers on the psychoactive effects of Triticum.

contingencies 12y ago

Betel is a really good buzz and clearly has medicinal utility. If you get a chance, try it! Don't worry, your teeth won't change color overnight... that takes years.