Psychoactive Drugs Used by Andeans

The hair of thirty-two Andean mummies has been analyzed by scientists, and their findings indicate that this group actively used psychoactive drugs. The Tiwanaku mummies were found in the Azapa Valley of the Atacama Desert, which is located in northern Chile.

A compound known as the harmine compound was found in the hair of some of the mummies, even one that was only estimated to be one year old. The harmine compounds aids in the absorption of hallucinogenic drugs. Juan Pablo Ogalde is a chemical archaeologist at the University of Tarapacá, and she was also one of the study's authors. She has formulated her own professional opinion on why the compound was present. "These individuals probably ingested harmine in therapeutic or medicinal practices," she says. "Some maybe related to pregnancy and childbirth."

Most archaeologists working on the study agree that the drug was found in the young infant because the mother had ingested the substance while pregnant or breast feeding. An adult male mummy who had the compound present in his hair was found to also have damage in and around his nose, possibly indicating that sniffing drugs was a common practice.

Decorated and detailed snuffing kits have often been found in Tiwanaku tombs. The vilca tree is a tree whose seeds have hallucinogenic properties, and vilca seed powder is usually found within these kits. However, that drug has never been found in the mummies because it breaks down. Harmine on the other hand doesn't break down as quickly, and survived.

Oddly enough, harmine is not something that can be obtained from local plants in the Atacama Desert. In fact, the only plant known to produce the compound on the entire South American continent is the Banisteriopsis caapi, a jungle vine found in the Amazon rainforest.

This indicates that an intricate trade route must have existed between the Tiwanaku civilization and the Ancient amazonian civilizations, nearly a 300 mile distance. "A lot of people had suggested contact across the Amazon and the Atacama desert, and it's nice to have more hard data for that theory," says Alexei Vranich, another archaeologist interested in the study.