Posts tagged chromatography

Ancient ritual bundle contained multiple psychotropic plants

anthropology, shamanism, psychoactives, fox-snout-pouch, 1000, 2019, spectrometry, chromatography

The researchers identified the presence of multiple psychoactive compounds—cocaine, benzoylecgonine (the primary metabolite of cocaine), harmine, bufotenin, dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and possibly psilocin (a compound found in some mushrooms)—from at least three different plant species (likely Erythroxylum coca, a species of Anadenanthera and Banistesteriopsis caani). According to Capriles, the fox-snout pouch likely belonged to a shaman. “Shamans were ritual specialists who had knowledge of plants and how to use them as mechanisms to engage with supernatural beings, including venerated ancestors who were thought to exist in other realms,” said Capriles. “It is possible that the shaman who owned this pouch consumed multiple different plants simultaneously to produce different effects or extend his or her hallucinations.’”

via https://phys.org/news/2019–05-ancient-ritual-bundle-multiple-psychotropic.html