Ancient Origins Unleashed Debrief: Heady Rituals of the Ages Examined First-Hand
Greetings the Unleashed!
In 2020, it was my privilege to join in talks with what would turn out to be an incredible bunch of specialists from around the world. At the Ancient Origins First Healers Conference, I spoke with a traditional Curandero (Healer) of Inca descendance, discussed ancient medicine with an Indian Ayurvedic doctor, and was blown away by the calming presence of a traditional Medicine Man beamed in from a village in South Africa.
Other experts joined in over the weekend, and the takeaway for me was the agreement from the different healers from around the world that it is a holistic approach to living healthily and in harmony with nature that helps create both a healthy body and a healthy mind. They also agreed that it was easier said than done for the majority of people living in the modern world.
The other common theme was the making of offerings and performance of rituals which had been passed down through generations.
And so it came to pass, 4 years later that my wife and I were invited to a traditional healing ceremony to be held just outside of our town in Ecuador. We had become acquainted with a shaman, who had welcomed us into his home and performed some healing ‘cleansings’, aimed at addressing some ailments we had.
Anyone who has traveled in South America will likely have seen cleansing ceremonies being performed, often by wizened old ladies in markets, who blow alcohol in you face or beat you with stinging nettles and send you on your way, feeling all the better for it, no doubt. The youthful but well-practiced shaman took it to the next level, and introduced fire into the equation.
Over a couple of these sessions, he had diagnosed several of my ailments (one of a shaman’s abilities is to find the roots of and diagnose health problems) and suggested I would benefit from coming to a night long healing ceremony their foundation had coming up in a couple of weeks. With a certain trepidation, my wife and I accepted the offer.
To some extent, that night was a mind-blowing spectacle, running right through the night and past dawn. But more so, it was a deadly serious affair, including people who had traveled from afar with serious and even life-threatening problems, in order to be treated by a famous and powerful ‘Taita’ (the principle and most renowned healer) who was traveling up from the south of the country.
It was very well organized – I was surprised to be handed a wristband for entry when I arrived at what was a small country house, with a modest garden where the ceremony was to be held. The wristband struck me as the only modern twist on an otherwise very traditional and ritualistic affair.
There were around 70 attendees who formed a large oval circle around the well-tended and neat fire which grew in stature throughout the night. At one end was an ‘altar’, which included a sword, candles, rocks, medicines, and other items which would be employed for various functions throughout the night.
There were 3 helpers assigned to tend the fire, and 4 experienced wardens were appointed to guard the cardinal points of the circle to ward off any unwanted spirits that might happen to pass by.
We were told the basic rules of conduct and schedule for the ceremony and the ceremony began with some words of wisdom from the Taita (Father), followed by chanting and drumming. Healing music and medicine were introduced as the evening progressed.
As the infirm members of the group rose to receive various treatments from the 4 traditional healers that were in attendance, the seriousness of the evening as a healing process became obvious, with not all of the treatments appearing particularly easy to endure. This was a night of fire, focus and faith, with participants being treated by the healers, but also instructed to focus on their own healing, and encouraged to purge themselves of their illness.
Having heard about many ancient ceremonies and rituals from around the globe, I wonder what similarities this sacred ritual had with some of the ceremonies occurring around fires through the millennia of the past.
I thought of the ancient Mesoamerican cultures (due to my location), but there is evidence of this kind of activity going on all around the globe through the ages.
The earliest known use of the traditional medicine of San Pedro by the Nazca culture of Peru was found in 2022, with evidence of ceremonial San Pedro consumption and trade from 100 BC to 450 AD. A cave in Bolivia held paraphernalia with traces of the Ayahuasca medicine which was dated to 1000 years ago.
Meanwhile, in a vase from Ptolemaic Egypt 2,200 years ago, remnants of plants with psychotropic properties were found, connected with the Bes cult.
And these examples are just the tip of the iceberg with evidence of plant and alcohol use in Europe as far back as prehistoric times.
In the news in just the last couple of weeks, there has been a 5000-year-old ritual center in Peru, and also henbane, known to be used by the Vikings, now found in a Roman camp in the Netherlands.
And so, with the mind swirling with the rituals of the past, to this week’s editor’s picks…
Certainly not Stonehenge…
4700-year-old Megalithic Circle Discovered in the High Andes of Peru
Archaeologists have discovered a prehistoric plaza high in the Andes, known as Callacpuma stone plaza, was built nearly 5,000 years ago by ancient nomadic groups. At an elevation exceeding 3,000 meters (9850 feet) above sea level, this significant finding is a unique structure of a stone circle, where offerings were made to long-forgotten gods over several millennia. The construction features large megalithic stones arranged in two concentric circles, each 18 meters (60 feet) in diameter, creating a ceremonial space filled with untold secrets from the era when hunter-gatherers in what is now Peru started to form more complex societies.
Located in the Cajamarca River basin in northern Peru, famous as the location where the Spanish conquistador, Pizarro, captured Inca Atahualpa, the Callacpuma archaeological site has been recognized for 60 years, notable for its over one hundred cave paintings that depict a range of subjects from geometric patterns to natural scenes. The site, which is partially enclosed by an Inca road, spans 250 hectares and includes agricultural terraces, domestic buildings spread far apart, and a complex system of caves.
Systematic study of the site began in 2015, leading to the documentation of the circular plaza, which has recently been dated to over 4,700 years ago through carbon analysis. This places the plaza as one of the earliest known megalithic constructions in the region, predating similar structures such as Stonehenge by nearly two millennia.
Jason L. Toohey, an anthropologist at the University of Wyoming and lead author of the study published in the journal Science Advances, suggests that the plaza represents one of the earliest monumental constructions north of the Andes.
The plaza, a key feature of the late preceramic period, illustrates a crucial transitional time in South America when coastal fishing communities began trading with emerging agricultural societies in the mountains. It exemplifies monumental architecture constructed before the full adoption of agriculture and permanent settlements.
Seedy stuff…
For Pain or Pleasure? Poisonous Plant Henbane Used by the Romans
While digging at the site of a rural, first-century AD Roman settlement in Houten-Castellum in the Netherlands, archaeologists uncovered a most unusual artifact. Inside a hollowed-out animal bone, they discovered a collection of well-preserved black henbane seeds, which had apparently been stored there on purpose.
In an article appearing in the journal Antiquity, the team of researchers analyzed the bone and its contents. They presented evidence to show that the settlers in the old Roman village, which is located 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Amsterdam, were intentionally saving henbane seeds because the plant had value in their society.
Black henbane is known to have both healing and hallucinogenic effects, and presumably the people who saved the henbane seeds were aware of these benefits. Whoever put them inside the hollow bone (which is believed to have come from a sheep or a goat) plugged the bone with a solid stopper made from black birch-bark tar.
This clearly showed it was a container designed to store something important. There were hundreds of henbane seeds inside, indicating the collector was serious about collecting a good-sized sample.
Until now, no conclusive proof had ever been found to suggest that the properties of black henbane were understood by people living in remote regions of the Roman Empire. But there would have been no reason to save seed samples of this non-food plant unless its healing and/or mind-altering capacities had been discovered.
Other researchers who’d looked at this sealed bone suggested it may have been used to smoke henbane. But the new study revealed that there was no charring, or any other signs of burning, inside the hollow bone. This would seem to offer definitive proof that it was used strictly as a storage container.
A Set up?
Dealing in the Past: How Did Ancient Egyptians Get Nicotine and Cocaine?
The discovery of traces of nicotine and cocaine within 3,000-year-old human remains, which came to be known as Egypt’s cocaine mummies, raised curious questions amongst historians. Challenging existing historical narratives and prompting inquiries about potential transoceanic contact in antiquity, these controversial findings disrupted conventional narratives and prompted scholars to reconsider the scope of cultural exchanges in antiquity.
Today, many people believe that Christopher Columbus was not the first non-American to set foot in the New World. Current research has argued that the Vikings, Chinese, Greeks and Italians may have all been his predecessors. Some experts have even posited that ancient Egyptians were in the Americas as far back as 1,000 BC. How they've reached this conclusion is rather surprising.
In 1992, esteemed forensic toxicologist Dr. Svetla Balabanova announced a startling discovery. While examining the mummy of a member of the ancient Egyptian elite, she found traces of hashish, nicotine and cocaine, not only on the hair of Henut Taui but also on other mummies under analysis. The question soon arose: How did Lady Henut Taui have access to substances derived from the tobacco and coca plants as far back as 3,000 years ago?
To understand the conundrum, it’s important to remember that nicotine originates from tobacco leaves, while cocaine originates from coca leaves, both of which are native to the Americas. In fact, up until now the predominant belief was that 3,000 years ago these plants were only grown in the Americas and were not exported across the Atlantic Ocean until the 19th century.
The confusion which resulted from her research led academics to question the mummy’s authenticity or if the tests had been contaminated. One study published in the journal Antiquity suggested that the answer to these bizarre results could lie in the post-excavation histories of the so-called cocaine mummies. Meanwhile, Balabanova’s results have continued to be used as proof by some theorists that ancient Egyptians reached the Americas millennia before Columbus.
Who knows what they got up to here…
Undeciphered Rongorongo Script Found on Easter Island Predates European Contact
There has long been an air of mystery and intrigue surrounding a set of wooden tablets with writing on them found on the tiny, remote South Pacific island of Rapa Nui (more commonly known as Easter Island). Since these 27 inscribed tablets were recovered by explorers in 1864, the ongoing question has been, did their written script have a truly ancient origin, one that predated the arrival of the first European colonizers in the early 18th century? Or was that script comprised of elements introduced by the Europeans, meaning the written language wouldn’t have been indigenous to the island? If the Rapa Nui written language—dubbed Rongorongo—developed independently of European influence, it would represent a rare example of a pure language being created in historical times.
Hoping to come up with answers, a team of scientists from Italy and Germany performed radiocarbon dating tests on a set of four Easter Island tablets (designated as Tablets A, B, C and D) that are currently in the custody of Catholic nuns stationed in Rome. The data obtained from these tests seems to have confirmed the pre-European origin of the Easter Island script, as one of the tablets was found to have been carved on wood harvested in the late-15th century (specifically between the years 1493 and 1509). This is strong evidence that the island’s inhabitants invented a written language long before they encountered any Europeans.
Three of the four tablets were made from wood dated to the 19th century. Interestingly, the wood used to make the older tablet was not actually native to Rapa Nui, but instead came from a tree that only grows in southeastern Africa. The scientists who dated it believe it likely floated to the island as driftwood, likely reaching the island a few years after that 1493 to 1509 time period.
From an anthropological perspective, the results of this study have extraordinary implications.
“If Tablet D's exceptional age indicates that the local population of Rapa Nui could have invented a writing system without influence or input from external agents, Rongorongo could represent one of the few independent inventions of writing in human history, adding a layer of complexity to the narrative of the cultural and historical development of the Rapa Nui inhabitants,” the scientists wrote in an article about their study just published in Scientific Reports.
While this statement is somewhat cautious in what it proclaims (i.e., using words like ‘if’ and ‘could’), the scientists do believe they’ve uncovered convincing evidence to show that the people who lived on Rapa Nui many centuries ago were both speaking and writing in their own unique language.
However, even though the scientists proved the wood of the tablet was more than 500 years old, that would not necessarily mean that the inscription on the wood tablet was made that long ago. Because wood was scarce on Rapa Nui, it was common to reuse it over and over again—and in fact the inscribed tablet had notches cut into its sides, meaning it was likely repurposed as a spool for winding up cord at some point.
Smells healthy…
Ancient Botanical Medicine Was Driven By Taste and Smell, Study Finds
With the advent of modern medicine, it’s hard to imagine the role taste had in the preparation of ancient botanical remedies. In layman terms, taste and flavor had a huge role to play in their eventual therapeutic application(s), serving as a foundation upon which ancient health practices were built. A new study has examined how taste influences the utilization of botanical medicine by correlating the impressions of a group of contemporary volunteer tasters with 700 botanical drugs cataloged in the 1st century AD medical encyclopedia, De Materia Medica.
The study, published in the journal E Life, revealed that 45 out of 46 therapeutic botanicals were distinctly linked with specific taste characteristics. In fact, taste and smell have influenced medicine since illness was first being treated, something that seems very much absent from the cold, clinical nature of modern medicine.
“The link between taste and medicine was realized by the ancient Greek philosophers and physicians. To make sense out of clinical symptoms, healing powers and medicine, ancient Greek physicians conceptualized the so-called humoral theory… The then known four basic taste sensations got integrated into this equilibrium model and associated with the four humors: phlegm, blood, yellow bile, and black bile by Galen in the 2nd century AD,” said Marco Leonti from the University of Cagliari who co-authored the research.
At the time, the prevailing belief was that medicine could restore equilibrium to the humoral system and rebalance any disruptions. Although this philosophy has been surpassed by scientific medicine, certain correlations between taste and therapy persist in Western herbal medicine. For instance, bitter-tasting remedies for stomach ailments or astringent substances for diarrhea are still acknowledged. Other medical traditions like Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, and indigenous community care also categorize medicinal substances based on flavors to this day.
While we observe these remnants of ancient medicine in contemporary practice, comprehending the development of early treatments remains challenging without a time machine. To gain insight into the past, researchers sought a method to compare ancient records with present-day human experiences of these drugs.
Down to earth…
Advanced Amazonian Agriculturalists Intentionally Created ‘Terra Preta’ Thousands of Years Ago
A fascinating body of research has revealed how intimately our ancestors were connected to the earth – specifically, ancient Amazonians, who intentionally created a fertile dark earth or ‘terra preta’. The study has found that despite the highly acidic and low nutritional content of the Amazonian soil for agricultural purposes, ancient humans intentionally modified the environment around former human settlements to allow their expansion.
This study published in Sciences Advances, was led by researchers at MIT, the University of Florida, and institutions in Brazil. In the past, while conducting research in a region of the Amazon inhabited by the Kuikuro people, a team of researchers led by anthropologist Michael Heckenberger from the University of Florida, alongside Morgan Schmidt, who was a graduate student at the time, discovered that these communities utilize sophisticated agricultural methods.
One such technique involves the establishment of centralized middens—accumulations of waste that break down over time, enriching the soil, which in turn supports crop cultivation.
The researchers essentially helped address a longstanding debate about intentionality – was this dark earth, known as ‘terra preta’, an inadvertent byproduct of certain practices, or very intentional? This study helped confirm that these practices were very much intentional.
Til next time…stay well…
Gary Manners - Senior Editor, Ancient Origins
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