A psychedelic beer would have helped this former South American empire to reign

The rulers of an ancient South American empire used psychedelic beer to maintain political control over their society and surrounding communities, according to research published in January.

In a study published in Antiquity, archaeologists have revealed that the leaders of the Wari people served a beer-like beverage made from the fruit of the false pepper tree, a small tree, combined with the seeds of the vilca tree, and served the mixture to guests at communal feasts.

The fruit of the little pepper tree is used to make a beer-like alcoholic beverage called chicha.

«The resulting psychotropic experience reinforced the power of the Wari state, and represents an intermediate stage between exclusionary and entrepreneurial political strategies,» the researchers write in a summary of the study published online by Cambridge University Press. «This Andean example adds to the worldwide catalog documenting the close relationship between hallucinogens and social power».

Power and psychotropic drugs

The Wari built their empire on the high plateaus of the Andes in present-day Peru. They ruled the region from 600 to 1000 A.D. and preceded the Inca empire by four centuries. Archaeologists excavating in Quilcapampa, southern Peru, from 2013 to 2017, discovered the first traces of psychedelic vilca seeds at a Wari site.

Matthew Biwer, Visiting Assistant Professor of Archaeology at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and lead author of the study, said the discovery sheds light on how indigenous South American civilizations were using psychoactive substances.

«It was a turning point in the Andes in terms of politics and the use of hallucinogens,» said Biwer.

The Wari empire excavation site

«We see this type of hallucinogen use as a different context of use from that of earlier civilizations, which seem to have narrowly kept the use of hallucinogens to a privileged few, or the last Inca empire, which emphasized mass consumption of beer but did not use mind-altering substances like vilca at festivals.»

Pre-Columbian civilizations used vilca, often inhaled as snuff, as far back as 4,000 years ago. The seeds contain the psychedelic substance dimethyltryptamine, as well as bufotenin, a substance similar to serotonin.

«What I've read from ethnographic sources is that you get a very strong sensation of flying,» Biwer told Inverse.

Party people rule the empire

Previous research has revealed that the Wari used feasting and beer as a means of exerting political control over guests from surrounding communities. Researchers at the Quilcapampa site discovered evidence that the Wari made «molle beer», known as chicha, in large quantities. Botanical remains of molle and vilca were found, and ceramics were discovered in the center of the site, an indication of where feasts were held, according to the study authors.

«The Wari added vilca to chicha beer to impress guests at their feasts who couldn't reciprocate the experience,» said Biwer. «This created a debt relationship between the Wari hosts and the guests, who were probably from the surrounding area.».

«We believe that feasting, beer and vilca served to create and cement social ties between Wari-affiliated peoples and local populations as the Empire expanded,» continues Biwer. «It was also a way for Wari rulers to demonstrate and maintain their social, economic and political power.»

Biwer explains that guests were under social pressure to recognize the power of their Wari hosts, and felt obliged to reciprocate in the future.

«There is political power in being able to acquire and use these hallucinogenic substances and provide those experiences,» Biwer said. «I think it provides a really good example of the connection between politics, drug use, intoxication and social ties.»

Researchers have yet to discover why the Wari civilization eventually disappeared. But by continuing to study the sites inhabited by the pre-Columbian civilization, they are learning more about how Peru's first inhabitants lived.

«The Wari empire stretched from northern Peru to the far south, near the Chilean border, and from the coast to the mountainous areas of the Andes,» explains Biwer. «It is the earliest example of an empire in South America, which collapsed around 400 years before the rise of the Inca empire.».