Only the elites used hallucinogens in the company Ancient Andes

“The examples of Wari are about 1,000 years later, just like the Tiwanaku, so maybe it is not surprising that there is a certain variation in the way people used Vilca,” told Ars. “We don't know it's the only Context in which Vilca was used in Chavín – just that it is clear that it was used in this context of particular restricted access. This does not mean that this or other substances – including things as simple as food and chicha – were not also used in more open contexts to build social ties. Work parties for cleaning harvests or canals, for example, are still part of life in the rural central Andes, and elsewhere (including the United States). “”

“If I had to guess, I would say it was also part of Chavín,” he added. “But at the same time, certain types of rituals were very specific and probably exclusive with regard to the location, content and perhaps participation in substances – providing plants and knowing how to prepare them can have rather specialized knowledge.”

Discovery has broader implications because Chavín has ride a major social transition. Between 500 and 1,000 years after Chavín, “there were already sedentary villages that practiced agriculture and engaged in community construction projects recognizedly similar to Chavín – platform mounds arranged around places,” said Contreras. “However, there is little evidence of the existence of substantial and lasting inequality, and much less proof of artisanal specialization, production and long distance exchange than Chavín.”

But during the 1000 years that followed Chavín, “the colonies have become much larger and more urban, and several Andean societies can be found (ugly, for example) which were very clearly highly hierarchical; social, political and economic inequality had become the norm,” said Contreras. “Chavín is obviously not the only archaeological site found between these two extremes, but it is a really interesting place to examine this transition.”

PNAS, 2025. Doi: 10.1073 / PNAS. 2425125122 (About owe).