Psychoactive Substances in Prehistoric Times: Examining the Archaeological Evidence

Abstract

The relationship between humans and psychoactive substances can be traced back over millennia. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the consumption of drug plants and fermented beverages in prehistoric times by drawing upon some archaeological examples worldwide that illustrate the early use of these substances. The archaeological evidence of psychoactive substances is assessed in the light of some indicators that should be taken into consideration when examining this type of data.

Keywords:

• psychoactive substances
• prehistory
• methodology
• contexts
• ritual

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank John Baker for inviting me to contribute to Time & Mind. He kindly helped me smooth out some rough edges, and offered valuable comments and suggestions. The author would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive and helpful comments.

Notes

1. The French theologian Philippe de Félice might have been the first scholar to highlight the sacramental use of psychoactive substances, but his ideas did not reach the general public. In his book Poisons sacrés, ivresses Divines, which was first published in 1936, he put forward the hypothesis that the use of psychotropic substances is deeply embedded in human culture, and that it is intrinsically intertwined in a most basic human instinct: The search for transcendence. Thus, he proposed, the use of psychotropic substances is at the roots of perhaps all religions (Shannon 2002, 86).

2. For a deeper insight into ASC, the interested reader is referred to Revonsuo, Kallio, and Sikka 2009; Tart 1990; and Zinberg 1977.

3. Ergot (Claviceps purpurea) is a parasitic fungus usually on rye and various grasses. Most of the natural ergot alkaloids are derivatives of lysergic acid, and many possess pronounced psychotomimetic activity (Schultes and Hofmann 1980).

4. “Such usage is in sharp contrast to present-day practice, when drug-taking is an end in itself, often an act of rejection of societal values, a protest against culture, society and its taboos. It is also a rejection of the long history of sanctioned and controlled drug use to achieve recognised cultural objectives” (Michaelis 1990, 101).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elisa Guerra-Doce

Elisa Guerra-Doce is Associate Professor of Prehistory at the University of Valladolid, Spain. Her PhD project focused on archaeological evidence for the use psychoactive substances in European Prehistory: Las Drogas en la Prehistoria (Bellaterra, 2006), and since then she has published several papers on drug plants and fermented beverages as book chapters and journal articles (the most recent one will shortly appear in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, already available online). Apart from compiling data about the use of these substances in European Prehistory, she is particularly interested in exploring the cultural significance of this practice. At present time she is also conducting research on the Beaker phenomenon, the Archaeology of salt, as well as the Neolithization of the southwest area of the Iberian Northern plateau.