Ancient Psychoactive Substances, edited by Scott M. Fitzpatrick, 2018. Gainesville (FL): University Press of Florida; ISBN 978-0-8130-5670-8 hardback $95. 340 pp., 72 b&w illustrations, 1 table

Abstract

Human use of psychoactive substances has a long and complex history that has been documented in the archaeological record from as early as the Neolithic period (Guerra-Doce 2015). This exciting new field of archaeological research has potential to shed light on many approaches to human behaviours in the past, particularly those focused on ritual practice, phenomenology and human–environment interactions. This edited volume addresses such topics and raises intriguing questions concerning the exploitation and processing of substances that alter cognition, perception, mood and behaviour. Representing a starting point for archaeological research on ancient psychoactive substances, the volume presents new evidence of the temporal and geographic distribution of mind-altering substances, drawing from archaeological, palaeobotanical and ethnohistorical records of Eurasia, North America, Central America and South America. It is the first major study on ancient psychoactive substances that takes on such a global scale, spanning over three millennia and four continents. It is not intended to be a comprehensive review of ancient psychoactive substances, but rather to present the current state of research through 11 stand-alone case studies that investigate different aspects, contexts and types of mind-altering substances. The chapters function independently and are set within a loosely comparative framework that is organized geographically, beginning with Eurasia. This organizational scheme, in privileging geography over methodology, misses an opportunity to create dialogues among studies that utilize similar approaches to ancient psychoactive substances. Instead, the research questions, methods of analysis and scope of each contribution vary significantly from chapter to chapter. As a result, the presentation of the volume overall is somewhat disjointed, jumping between broad, multi-regional studies and focused, context-specific analyses. Despite the uneven presentation and scope of the chapters, two main themes stand out that unite the otherwise disparate studies to create a coherent work on ancient psychoactive substances. First, the contributions primarily focus on inebriants, stimulants, narcotics and hallucinogens that are consumed today, such as alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and opium. This strategy links practices of substance use in the past and present, particularly through analysis of ethnographic and historical records which provide an enriching set of evidence that deepens understanding of the archaeological data. The second major theme running through the volume is the role of intoxicating substances in practices of ritual and religion. In the introduction, Fitzpatrick and Merlin underscore the significance of mind-altering drugs in contexts of ritual practice, proposing that the terms ‘hallucinogen’ and ‘psychedelic’ be replaced by ‘entheogen’, a substance that generates close interaction with deities or supernatural forces (p. 2). According to many contributing authors, ingestion of entheogens indeed revolved around rituals ranging from funerary practices to feasting. This approach is demonstrated in a number of insightful contributions, drawing from different perspectives and methodologies such as Merlin and Clarke’s broad study of Cannabis in Central Eurasian burials (chapter 1). In chapter 5, Thompson and Pluckhahn take a holistic approach to stimulants and hallucinogens in mortuary rituals at the mound-pond complex of Fort Center, Florida. In chapter 10, Sayre integrates multiple forms of evidence, including iconography, contextual analysis and palaeobotanical data to evaluate critically the use of the psychoactive vilca plant in ceremonial contexts of the preconquest Andes. In chapter 11, Jennings and Valdez adopt a chaîne opératoire approach to maize and molle brewing in the prehistoric Andes, elucidating the processes of consumption, production and exchange of these fermented beverages. Several of these contributions examine the political and social roles of intoxicants in ritual events, contextualizing the relationship between psychotropic substances and social organization. For example, in chapter 7, Seinfeld’s analysis of gender hierarchies in ancient Maya visual culture deepens engagement with ritualized alcohol consumption and its implications for understanding Maya social identities. The study utilizes painted vessels that depict narrative scenes illustrating gendered behaviour in which excessive alcohol consumption by men relied on sober assistance from women, an argument which is further supported by observations of early Spanish colonist Diego de Landa. The vessels’ narrative scenes demonstrate a consistent pattern in which elite men’s use of psychoactive substances, as gateways to the divine, was privileged over women’s access to these inebriants during the same ritual events. The study argues that ‘intoxication events conform to a wider pattern of denying women equal access to political and ritual power among the Classic period Maya CAJ 29:3, 537–539 © 2019 McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research