Drug Consumption and its Social Context in the ancient Near East

Eurasian Steppe and Caucasus – Hemp Rope, Impressions and Seeds

Early Third Millennium BC Cultural Horizons based on Distribution of Pottery and Seals

Fig. 4Early Transcaucasian ware (purple), Ninevite 5 ware (green), Scarlet ware (orange),and Burnt Steatite Style seals (crescent)(adapted from Roaf 1990: 80)

Shamanism: One of the earliest terrestrial religions. The social function of the Shaman was oracle, healer and spiritual guide all in one. Their job it was to maintain a connection with the spirit world. The word shaman originated among the Siberian Tungus (Evenks) and literally means he (or she) who knows.

The concept of a shaman was almost lost in the 20th century, but it is making a slow revival in ‘new-age’ cultures. In essence, shamanism is a belief system, similar to many religions today, it is often spoke of as one of the first ‘religions’ practiced by people. What did these early Shamans see? Were the visions they experienced and cataloged simply the result of psychoactive drugs, or were the experiences possibly an open portal to other dimensions?

Archaeologists in northern Israel say they have discovered the world’s oldest known grave of a shaman. The 12,000-year-old grave holds an elderly female of the mysterious Natufian culture, animal parts, and a human foot. Hundreds of Natufian graves have been excavated in Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. But only the one uncovered by Grosman contains a woman believed to have been a shaman.

Most cultures indulge in the consumption of mind-altering substances and ancientMesopotamia is unlikely to be an exception to the rule. Until recently, lack of hardevidence has discouraged any serious investigation into this subject, but now thatarchaeological material is mounting in discrete locations from around the ancient Near East, the time is ripe to re-examine the available data and look for clues to the existenceof drug related rituals that may have eluded us in the past.

Beginning with a review of therelevant textual and botanical evidence, this paper then focuses on the material and visualrecord from the Hurrian cultural horizon in its broadest sense, including all areas and periods that overlap with this ethno-linguistic group. The cumulative evidence suggeststhat inasmuch as drugs appear to play a central role in the socio-political and religious lifeof pre-urban societies that surrounded Mesopotamia and informed its culture, somevestige of these ancient rites are likely to have been absorbed along with the folklore andlegends that they inspired.

Comparable iconography occurs on cylinder seals that share a similar chronological and geographical distribution with Kura-Araxes ware and its southernderivative, Khirbet-Kerak ware. The so-called Burnt Steatite Style likewise dates to the late 4th and early 3rdmillennia BC and has been found at sites concentrated along thefoothills of the Zagros and Taurus range (Fig. 4, the area enclosed by the crescent thatoverlaps the distribution of Scarlet, Ninevite 5 and Transcaucasian ware). A fewcenturies later, during the Sargonic period (c. 2200 BC), this area is known as Greater Subartu, and part of it was famed for its magical arts. The typical designs on the BurntSteatite style seals suggest that this reputation may be rooted in older traditions.

Drug Consumption and its Social Context in the ancient Near East

Shamanism