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Food of the Gods or mere mortals? Hallucinogenic Spondylus and its interpretive implications for early Andean society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2015

Mary Glowacki
Mary Glowacki*
Affiliation:
Pre-Columbian Archaeological Research Group, Inc.; Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research, USA
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Abstract

Eating shellfish in the wrong season makes you ill. But early people of the Andes seem to have courted these effects to gain out-of-body experiences. It may have been these effects, as well as its distinctive colouring and appearance, that made Spondylus such a very special commodity.

Keywords

PeruAndesWariSpondylusritual
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 79 , Issue 304 , June 2005 , pp. 257 - 268
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2005

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