Smoking Pipes Research Articles

Smoking Out Ottoman Sites in Northern Sinai, Egypt: The Use of Clay Tobacco Pipes for Identifying the Nature of Settlements in the Ottoman Period

In this study clay tobacco pipes collected by the North Sinai Expedition are used to provide insights into settlement patterns and the structure of archaeological sites in the region. At many sites in northern Sinai, clay tobacco pipes are the only evidence of human activity. The absence of contemporary material culture and the recovery typically of one smoking pipe per site can be interpreted as evidence for ephemeral occupations. From this information it is argued that many of these sites were occupied by bedouin and transient Egyptian fellahin, perhaps on a short-term basis. The variations in the distribution of clay smoking pipes in north Sinai between the 17th-18th centuries and the 19th-early 20th centuries most likely represent the physical remains of different adaptive responses to varying socio-economic conditions in northeastern Egypt and Ottoman Palestine.

The role of traditional Erica arborea L. management practices in maintaining northeastern Sicily's cultural landscape

The tree heath ( Erica arborea L.), a small evergreen tree found in the Mediterranean region and parts of Eastern and Central Africa, produces lignotubers that are highly valued for making smoking pipes. The Peloritani Mountains of northeastern Sicily are historically one of the most important areas in Italy for the production of these high quality lignotubers, known as briar root wood. In the past, tree heath shrublands were also an important source of charcoal. Erica arborea utilisation has declined dramatically during the past century, mostly due to the decreasing demand for smoking pipes, as well as the increasing frequency of wildfires and large-scale afforestation activities in this region. Until recent decades, Erica arborea management (grub felling), which represented an important economic activity for some local communities, also contributed to wildfire prevention by maintaining low heath tree cover which helped to inhibit fire spread. The majority of Erica arborea maquis is currently found on State-owned lands where traditional harvesting practices (i.e., uprooting trees) is discouraged, leading to higher density stands more susceptible to fire. At present, the tree heath industry is in sharp decline, with irregular management of the resource and poor commercial value of heath root wood due in part to frequent fires. Recently social trends and the establishment of new protected areas in tree heath shrublands discourage the utilization of Erica arborea and the conservation of the material culture and landscape associated with its management. It is proposed that tree heath cultivation be continued only in those areas best suited in order to preserve its cultural and environmental roles, and that forest management practices be improved to increase the economic viability of tree heath grub felling activities.

Pooled analysis of tobacco use and risk of Parkinson disease.

Epidemiologic studies have reported that cigarette smoking is inversely associated with Parkinson disease (PD). However, questions remain regarding the effect of age at smoking onset, time since quitting, and race/ethnicity that have not been addressed due to sample size constraints. This comprehensive assessment of the apparent reduced risk of PD associated with smoking may provide important leads for treatment and prevention. To determine whether race/ethnicity, sex, education, age at diagnosis, and type of tobacco modify the observed effects of smoking on PD. We conducted the first ever pooled analysis of PD combining individual-level data from 8 US case-control and 3 cohort studies (Nurses' Health Study, Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, and Honolulu-Asia Aging Study) conducted between 1960 and 2004. Case-control studies provided data for 2328 PD cases and 4113 controls matched by age, sex, and ethnicity; cohort studies contributed 488 cases and 4880 controls selected from age- and sex-matched risk sets. Incident PD. We confirmed inverse associations between PD and smoking and found these to be generally stronger in current compared with former smokers; the associations were stronger in cohort than in case-control studies. We observed inverse trends with pack-years smoked at every age at onset except the very elderly (>75 years of age), and the reduction of risk lessened with years since quitting smoking. The risk reductions we observed for white and Asian patients were not seen in Hispanic and African American patients. We also found an inverse association both for smoking cigars and/or pipes and for chewing tobacco in male subjects. Our data support a dose-dependent reduction of PD risk associated with cigarette smoking and potentially with other types of tobacco use. Importantly, effects seemed not to be influenced by sex or education. Differences observed by race and age at diagnosis warrant further study.

Effects of type of smoking (pipe, cigars or cigarettes) on biological indices of tobacco exposure and toxicity

Although all forms of smoking are harmful, smoking pipes or cigars is associated with lower exposure to the lethal products of tobacco products and lower levels of morbidity and mortality than smoking cigarettes. Cytochrome P-450-1A (CYP1A) is a major pathway activating carcinogens from tobacco smoke. Our primary aim was to compare CYP1A2 activity in individuals smoking pipes or cigars only, cigarettes only and in non-smokers. We studied 30 smokers of pipes or cigars only, 28 smokers of cigarettes only, and 30 non-smokers male subjects matched for age. CYP1A2 activity was assessed as the caffeine metabolic ratio in plasma. One-day urine collection was used for determining exposure to products of tobacco metabolism. Nitrosamine and benzo[a]pyrene DNA adducts were measured in lymphocytes. CYP1A2 activity was greater (p<0.0001) in cigarette smokers (median: 0.61; interquartile range: 0.52-0.76) than in pipe or cigar smokers (0.27; 0.21-0.37) and non-smokers (0.34; 0.25-0.42) who did not differ significantly. Urinary cotinine and 1-hydroxypyrene levels were higher in cigarette smokers than in pipe or cigar smokers and higher in the later than in non-smokers. DNA adducts levels were significantly lower in pipe or cigar smokers than in cigarette smokers. In multivariate analysis, cigarette smoking was the only independent predictor of CYP1A2 activity (p<0.0001) and of 1-hydroxypyrene excretion in urine (p=0.0012). In this study, pipe or cigar smoking was associated with lower exposure to products of tobacco metabolism than cigarette smoking and to an absence of CYP1A2 induction. Cigarette smoking was the only independent predictor of CYP1A2 activity in smokers. However, inhalation behaviour, rather than the type of tobacco smoked, may be the key factor linked to the extent of tobacco exposure and CYP1A2 induction. Our results provide a reasonable explanation for the results of epidemiological studies showing pipe or cigar smoking to present fewer health hazards than cigarette smoking.

Tobacco use, body mass index and the risk of malignantlymphomas—A nationwide cohort study in Sweden

In the search for risk factors involved in the etiology of lymphoproliferative malignancies there is still inconsistent evidence regarding effects of smoking tobacco, and the role of smokeless tobacco is poorly investigated. New evidence indicates that excess body weight increases the risk of NHL and HD. To determine if tobacco use of various forms and high Body Mass Index (BMI) affect the occurrence of these neoplasms, we conducted a prospective cohort study on over 330,000 Swedish construction workers included in the Construction Industry Working Environment and Health program. Information on smoking, snuff dipping, height and weight was gathered by self administered questionnaires together with personal interviews. Cancer incidence was ascertained through the year 2000 by record linkage to the nationwide Swedish Cancer Registry, Migration Registry and Cause of Death Registry. At the end of follow up, 1,309 subjects had been diagnosed with NHL (including chronic lymphocytic leukemia) and 205 with HD respectively. Age adjusted incidence rate ratios were computed using Cox proportional Hazard regression modeling. Smoking cigarette, pipe or cigar was not associated with NHL or HD. There was no evidence indicating a relation between quantity and duration of smoking and NHL or HD risk. No link was found between NHL and usage of smokeless tobacco. Having a BMI of 30 or higher did not convey excess risk of developing NHL or HD compared to normal weight (BMI 18.6-24.9). We conclude that tobacco smoking and high BMI do not entail an increased risk of NHL and HD. Our findings of a relation between the duration of snuff dipping and HD need further investigation.

Evidence of early tobacco in Northeastern North America?

While tobacco use was a widespread and important social practice among Native Americans during the Historic Period, the prehistoric origins of the practice are poorly understood. Smoking pipes significantly predate botanical evidence of tobacco in Eastern North America. A promising technique for addressing this problem is gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) analysis to identify nicotine or related compounds in smoking pipe residues. GC/MS analysis of a smoking pipe dating to approximately 300 B.C. from the Boucher Site, a Middlesex-complex site from Vermont, has produced evidence of nicotine decay products. This is interpreted as evidence for an Early Woodland Period origin for tobacco use in Eastern North America. The cultural and chronological implications of this finding are discussed.

Smoking and culture: the archaeology of tobacco pipes in eastern North America

Smoking has played an important role in the cultures of North America since ancient times. Because of the ceremonial and ritual aspects of the practice in Native American societies, smoking pipes are important cultural artifacts. The essays in The Culture of Smoking constitute the first sustained interpretive study of smoking pipes, focusing on the cultural significance of smoking both before and after European contact. Pipes lend themselves to anthropological as well as archaeological analysis in part because they are more ceremonial than utilitarian. Thus, while their styles and provenance can reveal something about trade relationships, cultural transfer, and aesthetic influences, they also provide important information about the nature of ritual in a particular society. As the contributors demonstrate, pipes offer a window through which to view the symbolic, ideological, and political roles that smoking has played in North American societies from prehistoric times to the nineteenth century. The eleven essays included range widely over time and region, beginning with a case study of pipes and mortuary practices in the Ohio Valley during the Early Woodland Period. Subsequent chapters examine stone pipes from coastal North Carolina during the Late Woodland Period and the role pipes played in interregional interaction among protohistoric Native American groups in the Midwest and Northeast. Other essays explore the variety of cultural and political uses of pipes during the period of European contact. The final section of the book focuses on smoking in Euro-American contexts of the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. The innovative interpretive approaches taken by the contributors and the broad historical perspective will make The Culture of Smoking a model for examining other categories of material culture, and the volume will be welcomed by anthropologists and historians as well as archaeologists. Sean M. Rafferty is associate professor of anthropology at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Rob Mann is the southeast regional archaeologist for Louisiana and is based in the Museum of Natural Science at Louisiana State University.

Effigy Pipes, Diplomacy, and Myth: Exploring Interaction between St. Lawrence Iroquoians and Eastern Iroquois in New York State

This article relates an archaeological “culture” of northern New York to the Eastern Iroquois nations through the evidence of ceramic smoking pipes that are about 500 years old. After categorizing the objects on the basis of distinctive but thematically related imagery, I observe that their distribution is suggestive of an interaction sphere linking the St. Lawrence Iroquoians of Jefferson County with the Mohawks, Oneidas, and Onondagas elsewhere in present Upstate New York. Later historic descriptions imply that these pipes were connected with diplomatic ritual conducted by male representatives of those communities. The resulting geographical occurrence might be the archaeological footprint of alliances antedating the famous League of the Iroquois. Bearing remarkably elaborate designs, these objects are among the most iconographically complex compositions preserved in the Northeast. All depict themes of emergence, and some may illustrate a more extensive myth asserting the common origins of several groups. Fragments of similar stories survive to this day and are among the oldest oral narratives documented among the Iroquois. My interpretations of both the behavioral/social correlates and the meaning(s) of these pipes derive from applications of the direct historical method, an approach tapping the unsurpassed richness of the Iroquoian ethnographic and historic record.

Mechanical evaluation of a respiratory device

This article aims to characterize the mechanical behaviour of the Flutter VRP 1, a respiratory physiotherapy device designed to aid sputum clearance of the airways of patients. The device resembles a smoking pipe with a conical cavity containing a stainless steel sphere which floats up and down while the patient comes with a forced expiration through it. The sphere's oscillatory movement is function of the air flow rate and angular orientation of the device. When the sphere's oscillatory frequency matches the natural frequency of the patient's chestwall + abdomen system, it will produce resonance which, in turn, will enhance sputum clearance. A dynamical model of the Flutter was formulated and an experimental setup was assembled in order to study the oscillatory frequency of the sphere under different conditions of air flow rate, fluid pressure, angular orientation and sphere's material and weight. Interesting results presented by this article point to eventual mechanical optimization of the device and show information that could be beneficial to the professional of the respiratory physiotherapy.

Symbols, Myth-Making, and Identity: The Red Hand of Ulster in Late Nineteenth-Century Paterson, New Jersey

Symbols are manipulated to express social identity and to reaffirm or create a sense of place. Smoking pipes recovered from late nineteenth-century privies in the Dublin Section of Paterson, New Jersey, bear the symbol of the Red Hand of Ulster. Today, the Red Hand of Ulster is ubiquitous on Unionist murals throughout Northern Ireland symbolizing Northern Irish Protestant identity. Originally, the Red Hand symbolized the dawn of the Irish High King of Ulster. In late-nineteenth-century Paterson, it is argued here, the symbol was embedded in ethnic politics involving the Irish Diaspora and Irish–American identity developed through the Gaelic revival and Irish–American organizations and labor unions.

Smokeless and other noncigarette tobacco use and pancreatic cancer: a case-control study based on direct interviews.

Cigarette smoking is an important and well-established cause of pancreatic cancer. In contrast, little is known about the effects of smoking cigars, pipes, and use of smokeless tobacco on pancreatic cancer risk. The objective of the present study was to examine the association between noncigarette tobacco use (i.e., cigars, pipes, smokeless tobacco) and pancreatic cancer risk among nonsmokers of cigarettes. A population-based case-control study of pancreatic cancer was conducted during 1986-1989 among residents of Atlanta, Georgia, Detroit, Michigan, and 10 counties in New Jersey. Direct interviews were successfully completed with 526 newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer patients and 2153 controls ages 30-79 years. This analysis was restricted to lifelong nonsmokers of cigarettes and based on interviews with 154 cases newly diagnosed with carcinoma of the exocrine pancreas and 844 population controls who reported no history of cigarette smoking. We observed a consistent pattern of increased risk associated with cigar smoking, although these elevations were not statistically significant. Participants who smoked cigars regularly (i.e., at least one cigar/week for >/=6 months) experienced a 70% increased risk [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.9-3.3], and those who never used other form of tobacco had a 90% increased risk (95% CI: 0.8-4.3). Risk was elevated among those who smoked more than one cigar/day [odds ratio (OR) = 1.8; 95% CI: 0.8-4.2) and among those who smoked cigars > 20 years (OR = 1.9; 95% CI: 0.9-3.9). Trends in risk with increasing amount and duration smoked were consistent but not statistically significant (P = 0.17 and P = 0.16, respectively). Subjects who used smokeless tobacco regularly had a 40% increased risk of pancreatic cancer (95% CI: 0.5-3.6) compared with nonusers of tobacco. We observed a marginally significant increasing risk with increased use of smokeless tobacco (P = 0.04); participants who used >2.5 oz of smokeless tobacco a week had an OR of 3.5 (95% CI: 1.1-11). Long-term use of smokeless tobacco (i.e., >20 years) was also associated with a nonsignificant increased risk (OR = 1.5; 95% CI: 0.6-4.0). In contrast, pipe smokers experienced no increased risk (OR = 0.6; 95% CI: 0.1-2.8). Our results suggest that heavy use of smokeless tobacco, and to a lesser extent, cigar smoking may increase the risk of pancreatic cancer among nonsmokers of cigarettes.

Identification of Nicotine by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectroscopy Analysis of Smoking Pipe Residue

Ethnographic sources show the spiritual importance of tobacco in Native American Societies. Archaeological evidence, such as Early Woodland Period smoking pipes, indicate that this spiritual function has been maintained for thousands of years. However, ethnobotanical research on the prehistory of tobacco smoking in Eastern North America has been hampered by a lack of direct evidence prior to the Middle Woodland Period. Research involving a gas chromatographic/mass spectrographic technique (GC/MS) addresses the problem of identifying tobacco through the analysis of pipe residue. Results point to a possible Early Woodland Period use of tobacco in the Eastern Woodlands.

Early Historic Period Ceramic Smoking Pipes from Budhigarh, in the Kalahandi District of Orissa, India

ABSTRACTAmong ceramics found at early historic sites in the Kalahandi district of India are a great variety of terracotta smoking pipes or hukka. The pipes are fashioned from fine, iron-rich clay with extensive surface decoration. Their intricacy makes them the most distinctive art form of the area. Found at the majority of sites in the region, they are of special interest, both due to the care used in their execution and as they predate the introduction of tobacco to the area, leaving the plant being smoked a question. To determine their method of manufacture, and investigate the possibility of local manufacture, an initial study was conducted of a small number of pipes from the site of Budhigarh. The pipes, along with clay from the site (used extensively by modern potters), were studied using x-ray radiography, petrography, and inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy (ICP).

Balthus's Mountain Guide Revisited

N THIS BRIEF NOTE I will reveal the identity of the actual model for the figure of the mountain guide in Balthus's large painting The Mountain (1937) (Figure i). Many years ago I rashly related this figure to one by an obscure eighteenth-century Swiss painter whose work Balthus had copied, to which it bears only a superficial resemblance; probably I was seduced by the fact that both men are shown smoking pipes.' Balthus himself regarded The Mountain as a tableau clef.2 He displayed in the painting, his largest to that date, a rich brew of references-veiled ones with regard to figures taken from his own life, transparent ones with regard to figures borrowed from the painters he admired. In the picture's subtitle-it was exhibited at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York in 1939 with the label Summer: the first of four panels depicting the seasons-Balthus paid homage to Poussin's famous allegorical landscape cycle of the Four Seasons (1660-64) .3 The overall composition of the painting was, however, based on Courbet's Young Women from the Village (1852; inv. 40.1754) in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Mountain presents an imaginary plateau at the top of the Niederhorn, a mountain in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland. Having taken a cable lift to the top of the mountain in the summer of 1980, I can confirm that Balthus's landscape is composed of real, though transformed, elements, as well as invented ones. All the mountains can be identified, from the Sigriswiler Rothorn on the left to the Burgfeld Stand on the right, across the deep valley of theJustistal, the actual width of which has been suppressed. At the foot of the Niederhorn, out of view and a day's hike away, lies Beatenberg, the quaint Swiss village above Lake Thun where Balthus spent several of the summers and autumns of his youth, between 1922 and 1927. As I have written elsewhere in greater detail, in the pose of the sturdy sleeping Wandervogel (Figure 2) Balthus continued his reference to Poussin by evoking

Smoking as a modifiable risk factor for type 2 diabetes in middle-aged men.

To examine the effects of cigarette smoking, giving up smoking, and primary or secondary pipe or cigar smoking on the risk of type 2 diabetes. A prospective study followed 7,735 men aged 40-59 years from general practices in 24 British towns for an average of 16.8 years. Incident cases of physician-diagnosed diabetes were ascertained by repeated postal questionnaires and systematic reviews of primary care records. A total of 290 incident cases of diabetes were found in 7,124 men with no history of diabetes, coronary heart disease, or stroke. Cigarette smoking was associated with a significant increase in risk of diabetes, even after adjustment for age, BMI, and other potential confounders. The benefit of giving up smoking was only apparent after 5 years of smoking cessation, and risk reverted to that of never-smokers only after 20 years. The risk of diabetes in those who switched from smoking cigarettes to pipe or cigars remained equal to the risk in continuing cigarette smokers. Men who gave up smoking during the first 5 years of follow-up showed significant weight gain and subsequently higher risk of diabetes than continuing smokers. Cigarette smoking is an independent and modifiable risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Smoking cessation is associated with weight gain and a subsequent increase in risk of diabetes, but in the long term, the benefits of giving up smoking outweigh the adverse effects of early weight gain.

Risk factors for cancer of the oral cavity and oro-pharynx in Cuba.

In terms of worldwide levels, Cuba has an intermediate incidence of cancer of the oral cavity and oro-pharynx. We studied 200 cases of cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx, of whom 57 women (median age = 64) and 200 hospital controls, frequency matched with cases by age and sex, in relation to smoking and drinking history, intake of 25 foods or food groups, indicators of oral hygiene and sexual activity, and history of sexually transmitted diseases. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were obtained from unconditional multiple logistic regressions and adjusted for age, sex, area of residence, education, and smoking and drinking habits. In the multivariate model, high educational level and white-collar occupation, but not white race, were associated with halving of oral cancer risk. Smoking ≥30 cigarettes per day showed an OR of 20.8 (95% CI: 8.9–48.3), similar to smoking ≥4 cigars daily (OR = 20.5). Drinking ≥ 70 alcoholic drinks per week showed an OR of 5.7 (95% CI: 1.8–18.5). Hard liquors were by far the largest source of alcohol. Increased risk was associated with the highest tertile of intake for maize (OR = 1.9), meat (OR = 2.2) and ham and salami (OR = 2.0), whereas high fruit intake was associated with significantly decreased risk (OR = 0.4). Among indicators of dental care, number of missing teeth and poor general oral condition at oral inspection showed ORs of 2.7 and 2.6, respectively. Number of sexual partners, marriages or contacts with prostitutes, practice of oral sex and history of various sexually transmitted diseases, including genital warts, were not associated with oral cancer risk. 82% of oral cancer cases in Cuba were attributable to tobacco smoking, 19% to smoking cigars or pipe only. The fractions attributable to alcohol drinking (7%) and low fruit intake (11%) were more modest. Thus, decreases in cigarette and cigar smoking are at present the key to oral cancer prevention in Cuba. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.com

A New Approach to Dating the League of the Iroquois

When did the League of the Five Nations Iroquois originate? This study presents a new approach to answering this age-old question. Compositional data were collected on ceramics (pottery and smoking pipes) from Seneca and Mohawk sites in an attempt to identify and reconstruct exchange and interaction patterns between these two widely separated League members. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) spectrometry were employed to collect data on 15 elements. Using pottery as a baseline for each area, pipe data were utilized in a discriminant-function analysis to identify exotic pipes in Seneca assemblages from different time periods. The investigation focused on pipes because they were a probable item of exchange and because the symbolism of pipes and tobacco made smoking an important part of Iroquoian political protocol. Results showed that Mohawk pipes first occurred in Seneca assemblages sometime between A.D. 1590 and A.D. 1605. This is considered likely to reflect the inception of peaceful political relations between these two groups brought about by the final coalescence of the Iroquois Five Nations Confederacy. The approach developed for this study employed nondestructive analytical techniques applied to common classes of ceramic artifacts. As such, the methodology should be broadly applicable to other studies of interaction and exchange in this and other regions.

Material Culture and Cultural Meanings: Current Studies of Archaeological Ceramics and in Ce­ramic Ethnoarchaeology

Pottery and People: A Dynamic Interaction. James M. Skibo and Gary M. Feinman (editors). Founda­tions of Archaeological Inquiry. Salt Lake City. University of Utah Press. 1999. 260 pp. 91 figures. 30 tables. ISBN 0-87480-576-7. $55.00 (cloth); 0-87489-577-5. $25.00 (paperback). Material Meanings: Critical Approaches to the Interpretation of Material Culture. Elizabeth S. Chilton (editor). Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. 1999.179pp. 35 figures. 11 tables. ISBN 0-87480-632-1. $55.00 (cloth); 087480-633-X. $35.00 (paperback). The description and interpretation of material culture may be regarded as the essence of archaeology, a discipline that seeks to recover, describe, document, and interpret past human culture. More recently, understanding that actions occur in a material world that is constituted symbolically, archaeological explanations are often framed in sociocultural meanings, the analysis of agencies, practices and behaviors. I shall subsequently return to this issue. Because of their longevity in the archaeological record, lithic and ceramic artifacts are crucial to the endeavor to interpret human culture. Objects fashioned from clay and subjected to intentional artificial sources of heat made their initial appearance in the archaeological record more than 26.000 years ago. Ceramic objects have been created in a seemingly endless variety of shapes and forms, varying from fertility figurines. to cooking and food storage vessels. lamps, smoking pipes, medicinal pastilles, tokens, beehives, and coffins to modern whitewares and pyroceramics.

Free and bound fatty acid oxidation products in archaeological ceramic vessels

While oxidation products of unsaturated fatty acids, for example dicarboxylic acids (hereafter diacids), must form during the use of unglazed ceramic vessels for the processing of animal and plant products, such components have never been observed during studies of absorbed lipids. Their absence from the extractable lipid fraction is presumed to be the result of their loss from potsherds through groundwater leaching. Lipid oxidation products including short-chain dicarboxylic acids, ω-hydroxy acids and longer-chain hydroxy and dihydroxy acids have now been observed as components probably covalently bound into solvent insoluble residues of potsherds recovered from waterlogged deposits. These components were only revealed following alkaline treatment of the insoluble residues. A similar mixture of diacids was observed in high abundance in the free lipid fraction of vessels recovered from an exceptionally arid deposit where groundwater leaching would never have occurred. These results confirm the formation of oxidation and probable polymerization products of unsaturated fatty acids during vessel use and burial.

PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES IN THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF NORTHERN CHILE AND NW ARGENTINA A COMPARATIVE REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE

A comparative analysis of the use of psychoactive plants in northern Chile, specifically San Pedro deAtacama and the Middle Loa and its tributaries ( Caspana, Toconce, Lasana, Chiu-Chiu), with NW Argentina, as a proba ble diagnostic tool of shifting patterns of interaction. This work presents a review of the evidence for the ingestion of psychoactive plants in northern Chile and NW Argentina with particular emphasis on chronology, iconography and modes of ingestion. The iconographie and stylistic differences, as well as the divergence in chronology, suggest shifts in patterns of interaction between northern Chile and NW Argentina. RESUMEN Un an?lisis comparativo del uso de plantas s ?coactivas en el norte de Chile, especialmente San Pedro deAtacama y Loa medio y sus tributarios (Caspana, Toconce, Lasana, Chiu-Chiu) en relaci?n al noroeste argentino, se presenta como una posible herramienta de dign?stico de cambios de los patrones de interacci?n entre ambas regiones. Este trabajo es una revisi?n de las evidencias de ingesti?n de plantas sicoactivas en el norte de Chile y noroeste argentino con ?nfasis en la cronolog?a, iconograf?a y modos de ingesti?n. Las diferencias iconogr?ficas y estil?sticas, as? como la divergencia cronol?gica, sugieren cambios en los patrones de interacci?n entre el norte de Chile y el noroeste argentino. Palabras claves: Vilca, inhalaci?n, plantas sicoactivas, rap?. This work presents a comparative analysis of the evidence provided by the use of psychoactive plants in San Pedro de Atacama, the Middle Loa and its tributaries, and NW Argentina (Figure 1), as a probable diagnostic tool of shifting patterns of interaction. The criteria used include modes of ingestion, iconographie variables, and chronology. The modes of ingestion easily identified in an archaeological context are snuffing and smoking. The paraphernalia employed in these activities is specific to the task. However, the probable use of liquid preparations is not easily distinguishable, since its paraphernalia cannot be separated with any certainty from the wide array of vessels present in these areas. Chemical analysis of archaeological snuffs and of smoking preparations in northern Chile and NW Argentina have detected the presence of several psychoactive alkaloids, most notably bufotenine (5-hydroxy-dimethyltryptamine). The finding of bufotenine in the Atacama snuff suggests that the plant source of this material was a species of the genus Anadenanthera (formerly Piptadenia Benth.; see Reis Altschul 1964; 1972). This is the only genus implicated in the snuffing complex that contains bufotenine (Torres et al. 1991). The species of Anadenanthera present in the South Central Andes is A. colubrina var. Cebil (Figure 2). Small pouches containing Anadenanthera seeds have been found in several burials at the site of Solcor 3, San Pedro de Atacama. Anadenanthera seeds in association with smoking pipes have been found at the preceramic site of Inca Cueva in the Puna de Jujuy (Fern?ndez Distel 1980), and at the late period site of Cusi-Cusi (after 950 A.D.?;