The ayahuasca drug was given to the children before they died.
The findings are the first to link ayahuasca to the Inka culture. The drug may have been used as an anti-depressant to make sure the children were happy as they were sent off to the gods, according to the study of two child mummies.
In the past, we didn't know if the ayahuasca was used. The lead author of the study, a bioarchaeologist from the Centre for Andean Studies at the University of Warsaw, told Insider that they can see that they could have known it was an antidepressant.
The largest empire ever seen in South America was created by the Inka from the 1400s to 1532.
The Incas were known for their architecture with geometric designs, elaborate culture, costumes, and artwork.
The Emperor, the Sapa Inca, came from the capital Cuzco.
Around the sun god Inti. The sacrifice of children and young women was part of the religion.
It was a momentous, state ceremony undertaken only occasionally as required by special circumstances, such as the death of an emperor, the birth of a royal son, or a great victory in battle.
Young women and children who were selected for their beauty or remarkable attributes were often sacrificed on mountain tops. They were killed by strangulation, buried alive, or left to freeze to death.
Archeological evidence shows that the Huari people used ayahuasca for hallucinogenic properties.
There was no historical record showing the use of ayahuasca by the Incas.
Socha thinks that the Inca didn't have a writing system. Spanish chroniclers had to rely on second-hand accounts to keep records of the ceremony.
The priest was drinking and acting weird. She said they don't know if they were drinking alcohol or if they were drinking something else.
Socha carried out a toxicology analysis on the soft tissues of the children killed in the capacochas, to understand if they used ayahuasca.
She focused on the mummies of two children, a 15-year-old and a young child under the age of ten, which were found frozen in 1995 near the top of the Ampato mountain.
The children were killed in different places.
Although they have been well preserved by the cold, the precious metal they were buried with and the high location of their burial sites means the youngest child's grave was hit by lightning.
Some soft tissue did not die.
The compound found in modern-day ayahuasca is called harmine.
In the last two weeks of their lives, the children chewed on coca leaves and drank a beverage made from the ayahuasca liana.
It is the first time I have seen archaeological evidence of the use of ayahuasca among the Inka.
Socha said that the ayahuasca vine is not hallucinogenic. The drug of the same name is mixed with another hallucinogenic component.
We only find the harmine in our study. Socha said that they didn't find hallucinogenic stuff.
The hallucinogenic may have been given to the children but didn't show up in the analysis. She said that the hallucinogenic component could end with death if the children were high in the mountains.
It is more probable that the Incas used the drug as an antidepressants.
The children were kind of the gift for the gods. She said that they need to be happy, well dressed, and fed.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
