BOOK REVIEW Journal of Psychedelic Studies 3(2), pp. 264–266 (2019) DOI: 10.1556/2054.2018.011 First published online November 22, 2018 Drugs in prehistory

Elisa Guerra Doce Las drogas en la Prehistoria: Evidencias arqueol´ogicas del consume de sustancias psicoactivas en Europa Bellaterra, Barcelona, 2006, 531 pp. including introduction, glossary, and bibliography Paperback ISBN: 84-7290-323-0

Doce’s book (translated title Drugs in Prehistory: from birds indicate that such ritual complexes involved Archaeological Evidence of the Use of Psychoactive Sub- standardized paraphernalia, which was also considered stances in Europe) has broader considerations going well- sacred. beyond Europe. Doce notes that the contemporary societal The predominant model of entheogenic consumption in debates about the use of psychoactive substances can be foraging societies is associated with shamanic practices, informed by the wide variety of botanical substances used as where the shaman alone consumes the sacrament to en- psychoactives across human history and prehistory. Doce hance the healer’s spiritual force and divinatory capacity notes the difficulty in determining whether substances are for purposes of healing. These shamanic entheogenic strictly psychedelic, as opposed to psychoactive, but also practices take place in a ritual context generally with the argues that the context easily leads to the conclusion that attendance of all of the community. This ritual context is uses were entheogenic. used to establish communication with divinities and for a Doce argues the importance of using these contemporary range of objectives from diagnoses for purposes of guiding and recent historical sources of information as a model for treatment of disease; contact with the ancestors for advice; interpreting the past in other regions. Consideration of ritual seeking advice regarding the future; acquiring diverse drug use in better-known areas provides an ethnographic forms of information, especially about hunting and family analogy for interpreting the artifacts found in the European members; and seeking to influence spiritual forces to past and a model for the typical activities of the hunter– enhance well-being. gather, agricultural, and high civilization societies. In preparation for these entheogenic ceremonies, Doce Chapter 1 addresses ethnographic evidence for psycho- notes that there are a variety of common patterns. This active substance use in the Americas, whereas Chapter 2 includes a form of penance to produce a physical and/or addresses evidence from the Near and Middle East, as well spiritual preparation for the entheogenic encounter. They as India and China. Chapter 3 reviews evidence for the use typically involve fasting, sleep-deprivation, self-torture, and of psychoactives in the Classic world of Greece and Rome. sexual abstinence. This penance makes the individual wor- This introductory material sets the stage for the next three thy of spiritual favor revealed in the form of vision. A chapters, which access evidence regarding psychoactive confession of transgressions prior to the ceremony is another plant use in the Neolithic period, Bronze Age, and Iron significant feature, another form of purification for the age, respectively, constituting the heart of Doce’s book. spiritual encounter. These ceremonies are usually held at These are followed by a short “Final Considerations” and night, a factor potentiating the visionary experiences. botanical catalogue of potential psychoactive plants of the Doce proposes that the more complex societies have Old World. entheogen use restricted to a more exclusive group. Here, The ethnographic analogies from the Americas regarding we see the further limitation on the consumption of entheo- psychoactive plant use show that they were viewed as a gens to the elite class, with such use reinforcing exclusivity mechanism for enhancing connection with the spiritual and enhancing prestige of leaders. realms and are hence entheogens. Diverse Amerindian The centrality of these substances in spiritual life is traditions engaged in the entheogenic use of Lophophora manifested in their significant roles within the mythology williamsii (peyote), Anadenanthera and Virola snuffs, and of their culture. These accounts generally place these plant Banisteriopsis brews known as ayahuasca, tobacco, and substances as the central means of access to the domains other substances. of the Gods – the plants of the Gods. Doce repeats the Doce provides a detailed ethnohistorical background to notion that premodern societies did not approach the use of some of these principal cultural traditions of entheogen use these substances as a kind of hedonistic activity. On the in the Americas, exemplified in the Tiwanaku. The highly contrary, the accounts frequently emphasized the unpleasant significant artifacts from the prehistoric cultures of the symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, and Americas attest to the central role of these practices in exemplified in the frequent notion that such plants provided religion of these societies. The significant placement of purges as a healing mechanism. This negative profile snuff inhalation tools in graves attests to their centrality to extends to the visionary content, often conceptualized as conceptions of an afterlife. The abundant deposits of hollow a terrifying encounter with varied malevolent spiritual forces bone tubes, tubes, spatulas, and other implements obtained that might cause death.

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Doce then turns into the major purpose of her volume in Chapter 4 is a nearly 90-page consideration of the direct Section 2, with a chapter addressing the use of psychoac- and indirect evidence for the presence of psychoactive tives in the ancient civilization of the Near and Middle East substance use during the long Neolithic period. Unfortu- and another addressing Greece and Rome. Across the nately, direct evidence of consumption is limited to negli- ancient civilizations of Eurasia, there is well-documented gible, but indirect evidence in the Neolithic cultivation of evidence of the use of ethneogenic plants. There is wide- opium poppy and hemp suggests the ritual use as well. The spread evidence in texts of a high degree of development in widespread evidence of opium in artifacts found across the understanding of the properties of psychoactive plants, broad spans of Europe attests to its widespread and common including dosages and more importantly plant combina- use, although not necessarily as an entheogen. Similar tions. Among the plants, she reviews: evidence of the widespread use of cannabis also attests more to its practical rather than entheogenic use. Doce Papaver somniferum (opium) provides a review of chemical analysis on pottery and other Atropa belladonna (belladona) fi materials that suggests that the use of some wild collected Mandragora of cinarum (mandrake) plants (Solanum species and Hyoscyamus) with powerful Hyoscyamus spp. (henbane) consciousness altering properties. Withania somnifera (ashwagandha) The indirect evidence is the most abundant, reflected in Cannabis spp. (marijuana) incense burners and other implements for vaporizing and Solanum dulcamara (nightshade) inhaling substances; vessels for imbibing substances; cere- Nymphaea caerulea (blue lotus) monial vessels; inhalant tools such as spatulas and tubes; Datura metel (Datura) representations of mushrooms and poppy pods on artifacts; Amanita muscaria (fly agaric mushroom) fi representations in architecture, art, and petroglyphs; and Stropharia cubensis (now classi ed as Psilocybe diverse representations of entoptic phenomena. mushrooms) The Bronze Age shows a notable increase in artifacts In the case of the Greeks and Romans, the identity of the attesting to the presence of the indispensible use of psy- psychoactive substances often becomes less apparent, choactives in community rituals. The rise of alcohol con- obscured by the deliberate efforts at secrecy (some cults sumption in male-bonding rituals takes central stage in this killed members who publicly revealed the substances in the period, although there is also evidence of the inclusion of sacraments). There is also the increasingly prevalent prac- other psychoactive substances with these beverages. tice of combining various substances in wines or other As in the Neolithic period, the Bronze Age findings attest elixers that left the identity of the active ingredients to a wide variety of objects associated with the ritual use of unknown. Nonetheless, there is explicit identification of the entheogens; indeed, the volume of such objects suggests inclusion of many of the aforementioned plants of the activities of considerable importance. The emergence during ancient civilization of Eurasia, and with an increasingly the Bronze Age of recipients for transporting substances obvious application of many of these substances in the attests to this increasingly important consumption, most treatment of psychological and physical illness, rather than specifically opium. for strictly spiritual concerns. The reader interested in the Analysis of Iron Age residues presents evidence of the details of many historical records of these plant uses will be continued ritual use of the major plant species found in the impressed by Doce’s scholarship. Neolithic. The Iron Age developments also involve what Section 3 provides three chapters addressing the core of appears to be a reduction of opium poppy use and evidence Doce’s concerns, the evidence for psychoactive drug use in for increased use of marijuana for diverse products, as Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age, respectively. Her well as in ritual consumption, particularly funerary rites. analyses are organized by reference to direct vegetal Evidence for an increased range of entheogenic substances evidence of psychoactive plants, analyses of chemical resi- is attested to in literary texts that enhance our knowledge of dues, and interpretation of the uses of ritual objects, often ritual uses, speaking far more than the artifacts and botanical with recourse to ethnographic analogy. As direct evidence, and chemical residues ever could. Several new substances of Doce considers the presence of psychoactive substances in this era go outside of entheogenic purposes, for example, deposits and artifacts, as well as in skeletal materials and using toxic substances to poison water supplies, giving an botanical residues deposited in sites, especially pollen. advantage in warfare. The presence of pollen from numerous medicinal plants Incense burners, braziers, and other grave objects that are in the grave of Shanidar IV, in Iraq, dating from 60.000 apparently paraphernalia for drug inhalation attest to the years before present, attests to the consciousness of psy- central cultural importance of these practices, although most choactive substances shared by even our allegedly less artifacts lack analyses necessary to determine the actual intelligent hominin cousins, the Neanderthal. Doce also substances involved. However, contextual evidence sug- reviews the hypotheses of entheogen-inspired rock art, gests the concentration of such practices with the elite rather represented in abstract designs that closely correspond to than with the general populace, features evidenced in the the entoptic phenomena observed in clinical studies of the restricted ritual spaces of megalithic structures. Doce notes phenomenal effects of psychedelic substances. Such par- the progressive restriction of psychoactives to elite members allels strengthen the argument for ancient psychedelic use, during this period. The restricted use of entheogenic sub- even though such entoptic experiences can be induced by stances is indicated by small reclusive areas for their ritual procedures and stressful conditions, not requiring consumption points to their control by a priestly class that drugs for their production. denies their access to the broader populace. Doce discusses

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Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/26/21 06:31 PM UTC Book review their new roles in enhancing the dynamics of hierarchical Doce’s book concludes with a consideration of the wide social integration through selective access to ritual spaces range of psychoactive species for which the evidence is and experiences. Doce concludes that the previous patterns found in European prehistory, providing a 50-page catalog of European drug consumption continued during the Iron elaborating the wide range of psychoactive species. This Age, with the ancient patterns of communal consumption helps to counter the widespread belief that Eurasia was continuing in spite of the Romanization of Europe. particularly deficient in psychoactive plants, compared to Doce concludes that the use of psychoactives as entheo- the Americas. She also points to the vast number of relevant gens is found across a range of complexity from hunter– artifacts that are still in need of chemical analyses to gatherers to advanced civilizations. This constant of human determine the substances contained within them. cultures, whether simple or complex, to seek alterations of cultures reflects a human need, a need perhaps as basic as Michael Winkelman seeking food, companionship, or shelter. Doce proposes that what differentiates premodern and contemporary societies is Retired, School of Human Evolution and Social that people in the past were more effective in channeling the Change, Arizona State University effects of psychoactives toward positive group purposes Caixa Postal 62 with beneficial effects, perhaps even serving as part of a Pirenopolis, Go. 72980-000, Brazil strategy for adaptation to the environment and cognitive E-mail: [email protected] integration and therapeutic adjustment.

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