Drugs And Skulls

Marius van Boordt, “The Consecration”

A team of cognitive neuroscientists at the University of Zurich, has found that ancient Aztec “skull whistles” found in gravesites are able to instill fear in modern people. In their study, published in the journal Communications Psychology, the group recorded the neural and psychological responses of volunteers as they listened to the screams produced by the whistles.

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1449240174198-2’); });

In digging up ancient Aztec graves dating from the years 1250 to 1521 AD, archaeologists have found many examples of small whistles made of clay and formed into the shape of a skull. These whistles still work today as they did when they were buried next to a person in a grave. They produce sounds most often described as a scream of sorts.

An international group of researchers led by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria have uncovered the earliest evidence of Ephedra use from the charred remains of the plant in a 15,000-year-old human burial site in northeastern Morocco.

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1449240174198-2’); });

Ephedra is a genus of shrubs native to arid regions that produces alkaloids like ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, substances utilized in traditional medicine across many cultures. Archaeological evidence of its use during the Paleolithic era is rare due to the fragile nature of plant remains.