Peyote, the San Pedro Cactus. The Forerunners of the Inca | History - Planet Doc Full Documentaries

▶ SUBSCRIBE! http://bit.ly/PlanetDoc Full Documentaries every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday!
▶ Documentary "The Forerunners of the Inca" http://pdoc.es/ForeIncas

Peyote, also known as San Pedro is a cactus which contains a powerful alkali with relaxant and hallucinatory properties mescaline, a mind-altering substance which induces a profound state of trance.
In the dark of night, and presided over by the shaman, rituals are held, at which they ingest the San Pedro. Is cooked for a minimum of eight hours, and the results of this cooking ingested through the nose. The number of sniffs or doses is decided by the shaman. In the pottery of the Moche, Chimú, Paraca and other cultures, we can see the cactus, represented in the shape of a star, like the cut they make into the San Pedro, in order to get at the part which contains the greatest amount of mescaline.

The anthropomorphic face of the ‘Slitter of Men’s Throats’, at the Tomb, or ‘Huaca’ of the Moon, introduces us to the Moche culture, which flourished along these same coastal valleys, before the Chimú empire, from 200 BC to 700 AD. From here we can see the Tomb of the Sun. Between these two pyramids lay the capital of the Moche empire. Moche, or Mochica society was also very hierarchical and there was clearly specialisation of labour. They appear to have instituted a system of tribute at work, called ‘mita’. Some writers define it as a theocratic society, while others speak of a secular society. We know that they worshipped the moon, and the deity Ai-Apaec, a fierce god, the supreme power, and creator of the world, who demanded human sacrifice.
In Peru, the word ‘huaca’ is used to describe any archaeological site, and the things found there.

Many more mummies have been found in Peru than in any other country in the world. Its ancient civilisations had very large populations. People were buried with all their possessions, because they believed that life continued after death.

SUBSCRIBE | http://bit.ly/PlanetDoc
FULL DOCUMENTARIES | http://bit.ly/Full-Docs
HISTORY DOCUMENTARIES | http://bit.ly/PlHistory
FACEBOOK | http://bit.ly/FBPDoc
TWITTER | http://bit.ly/TwPDoc
TUMBLR | http://bit.ly/TbPlDoc
TUMBLR | http://bit.ly/TbPlDoc