Hallucinogenic beer may have been used to rally support in new territories.
The remnants of a large feast, found at a Wari outpost from the ninth centuryCE, strongly suggest the seeds of a psychoactive plant called vilca were once mixed with chicha, a beer made from the fruit of a Peruvian pepper tree.
Archaeologists think the drink would have triggered a state of relaxation among guests, who may have included commoners from the region.
The distribution of hallucinogens is likely to have been done in a way that gave everyone a chance to use.
Psychotropic substances were no longer used to identify a political elite during the Wari empire. At some point, hallucinogens crossed a class divide.
The Wari leaders may have been trying to win over their new subjects at the Quilcacampa site by combining a hallucinogen with alcohol.
In the time of the Wari, the vilca seeds were found on trees that were 400 kilometers away in the mountains. The seeds were mostly available to political or religious leaders who had the means to order harvesting expeditions.
As the Wari empire grew, they included more and more feasts spaces that emphasized the hospitable nature of the hosts.
The addition of vilca, a beer made from the molle fruit, has only been speculated as a possible addition to the menu. The team was able to build a stronger case for vilca's use across traditional social boundaries by mapping the distribution of molle and vilca botanical samples.
Sharing the substance would have been a calculated decision. The beverage might have been used to spread a new religious order or to create a sense of community.
The experience could not be reciprocated by guests, who lacked access to the imported vilca seeds and knowledge of how the drink was prepared.
vilca seeds might have been a powerful tool of persuasion as the Wari empire expanded into new lands.
Quilcacampa has Vilca seeds. M. Biwer.
Commoners were offered the seeds in chicha, which is argued to contain compounds that could have enhanced the psychotropic effects, instead of grinding up the seeds and snorting them.
It is possible that this was a common practice elsewhere in the empire, as shown by the beer vessels at other Wari sites in Peru.
vilca seeds were smoked in the region for a millennium after the arrival of the Inca Empire, but they were no longer used as a political tool. Beer was around.
The evidence shows that the leaders of the Inka hosted feasts with lots of chicha. The Wari empire began to decline around 800CE, so maybe they were going for a different strategy.
It seems no amount of vilca seeds could save the civilization.
The study was published in a book.
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