1. USO DE PLANTAS PSICOACTIVAS EN EL NORTE DE CHILE: EVIDENCIA QUÍMICA DEL CONSUMO DE AYAHUASCA DURANT EL PERIODO MEDIO (500-1000 d.C.).
- Author
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Ogalde, Juan P., Arriaza, Bernardo T., and Soto, Elia C.
- Subjects
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PSYCHOTROPIC plants , *VALLEYS , *MEDICAL botany , *FALCATARIA moluccana , *BANISTERIOPSIS , *HALLUCINOGENIC drugs , *HALLUCINOGENIC plants - Abstract
This article discusses the use of psychoactive plants in the Azapa Valley of northern Chile. The archaeological record of northern Chile provides early and uninterrupted material evidence related to psychoactive practices involving the use of Anadenanthera as well as chemical evidence for the consumption of Erthroxylum. Therefore, we used gas chromatography and mass spectometry to analyze the hair 32 mummies of the Middle period (ca. A.D. 500-1000) from the Azapa Valley. None of the analyzed cases tested positive for the consumption of Adenanthera, but two tested positive for the ingestion of Banisteriopsis, a psychoactive plant prepared as an infusion generally called ayahuasca. We conclude that the consumption of Banisteriopsis in the Azapa Valley was related to therapeutic practices, such as those employed in childbirth and puerperium, rather than hallucinogenic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2010
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