Hallucinogens, alcohol and shifting leadership strategies in the ancient Peruvian Andes

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In the pre-Columbian Andes, the use of hallucinogens during the Formative period (900–300 BC) often supported exclusionary political strategies, whereas, during the Late Horizon (AD 1450–1532), Inca leaders emphasised corporate strategies via the mass consumption of alcohol. Using data from Quilcapampa, the authors argue that a shift occurred during the Middle Horizon (AD 600–1000), when beer made from Schinus molle was combined with the hallucinogen Anadenanthera colubrina . The resulting psychotropic experience reinforced the power of the Wari state, and represents an intermediate step between exclusionary and corporate political strategies. This Andean example adds to the global catalogue documenting the close relationship between hallucinogens and social power.

The goal of those in power in any society, to borrow Adam T. Smith's (Reference Smith 2015) evocative term, is to make a ‘political machine’ that each member of that society wants to sustain through their collective effort. Cross-culturally, scholars differentiate heuristically between the exclusionary and corporate political strategies used to build and maintain this machine (Renfrew Reference Renfrew 1973; Blanton & Fargher Reference Blanton and Fargher 2008; Carballo Reference Carballo 2013). Smaller-scale societies generally have incipient social hierarchies that place greater emphasis on a leader's privileged access to the spirit world. In larger, more socially complex societies, corporate strategies tend to be employed to coordinate collective action. These latter strategies attempt to bridge socio-economic differences, often via the sponsorship of large feasts, rituals and other communal events that foster greater social cohesion through shared activities (Dietler & Hayden Reference Dietler and Hayden 2001; Stanish Reference Stanish 2017). One of the critical functions of these events, albeit an often highly contested one among participants, is to showcase the relationships between increasingly individualised roles and to demonstrate why each role is necessary to sustain a properly functioning society (Lincoln Reference Lincoln 1989).

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