Afterglow: Vilca Beer, Pro-Social Feelings, and Wari Geopolitics in the Ancient Andes
Revista de Arqueología Americana October 6, 2025 Jacob Keer, Justin Jennings
Psychedelic substances may have helped govern the Wari Empire of Middle Horizon Peru (600-1000 CE) by promoting social bonding after imperial disruptions. Archaeologists have focused on the immediate effects of psychedelics in past societies but overlooked their longer-term psychological impacts, such as neuroplasticity that can foster enduring pro-social feelings. A beer containing the psychedelic plant Anadenanthera colubrina (vilca) was regularly consumed at Wari feasts. The substance's 'afterglow' could have helped rebuild communities following the upheavals of imperial expansion, suggesting psychedelics played an integral role in Wari governance and may have shaped other regions' histories.