Erowid Psychoactive Amanitas (A. muscaria & A. pantherina) Vault : Timeline

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Psychoactive Amanitas

Timeline

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5000 - 3000 BCE		The earliest linguistic evidence of Amanita muscaria use as an intoxicant. 1 [Details] Based on linguistic analysis of languages from northern Asia. Around 4000 BCE, the Uralic language split into two branches, both of which contain similar root words for "inebriation". In some of these languages the root "pang" signifies both 'intoxicated' and the A. muscaria mushroom. These linguistic similarities suggest (but do not prove) that A. muscaria was known to be intoxicating before the languages split around 4000 BCE.
2000 - 1000 BCE		Petroglyphs along the Pegtymel River which drains into the Arctic Ocean in north eastern Siberia "depict anthropomorphic figures with mushrooms appended to their heads". The Pegtymel river area is currently inhabited by the Chukchi culture who are known to have used A. muscaria as a traditional inebriant. 2
c. 1200 BCE		Rg Veda hymns, a set of sacred stories from India, include mentions of a magical intoxicant called Soma. In 1968, R. Gordon Wasson published the controversial book Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality, speculating that Soma refers to Amanita muscaria.
100 CE		7.5 cm tall miniature statue of an Amanita muscaria dated to 100 CE found in Nayarit, Mexico, suggests A. muscaria may have been in use in coastal Mexico. Many other sculptures from Central and South America depict the ritual use of other psychoactive plants and mushrooms.
500 - 1200 CE		Some Scandivian historians believe that during this period Viking 'Bezerker Warriors' ingested Amanita muscaria before going into battle. Wasson writes: "No one who discusses the fly agaric in Europe can ignore the debate that has been carried on for almost two centuries in Scandinavia on this issue. First Samuel Odman in 1784 and then Frederik Christian Schubeler in 1886 propounded the thesis that those Viking warriors known as 'beserks' ate the fly-agaric before they 'went beserk'; in short, that 'beserk-raging' was deliberately caused by the ingestion of our spotted amanita." (Soma page 341) This theory is not well supported.
c. 1250		Natural philosopher Albertus Magnus describes the insecticidal properties of A. muscaria, in De vegetabilibus. It is these properties which led to the common name "fly agaric". 3
1291		Fresco in Plaincourault Abbey in Indre, France depicts Adam and Eve standing beside a Tree of Knowledge which bears a striking resemblance to an Amanita muscaria mushroom.
1658		A Polish prisoner of war writes about a culture from western Siberia (Ob-Ugrian Ostyak of the Irtysh region) "They eat certain fungi in the shape of fly-agarics, and thus they become drunk worse than on vodka, and for them that's the very best banquet." 4 [Details] Originally published in Kamiensky Dluzyk. "Diary of Muscovite Captivity" 1874. pg 382.
1730		Swedish Colonel Filip Johann von Strahlenberg, who spent 12 years in Siberia as a prisoner of war, gives detailed descriptions of Siberians consuming tea made from A. muscaria and drinking the urine of those who have ingested the mushroom to recycle its psychoactive ingredients. 4 [Details] von Strahlenberg wrote a book titled "An Historico-Geographical Description of the North and Eastern Parts of Europe and Asia" which include: "The Russians who trade with them [Koryak - a tribe on the Kamchatka peninsula], carry thither a Kind of Mushrooms, called in the Russian Tongue, Muchumor, which they exchange for Squirils, Fox, Hermin, Sable, and other Furs: Those who are rich among them, lay up large Provisions of these Mushrooms, for the Winter. When they make feast, they pour water upon some of these Mushrooms and boil them. They then drink the Liquor, which intoxicates them; The poorer Sort who cannot afford to lay in a Store of these Mushrooms, post themselves on these occasions, round the huts of the rich and watch the opportunity of the guests comind down to make water. And then hold a wooden bowl to receive the urine which they drink off greedily, as having still some virtue of the mushroom in it and by this way they also get drunk."
1753		Linnaeus officially described the fly agaric mushroom in Species Plantarum Vol 2, naming it Agaricus muscarius. 5
1755		Botanist Stephan Krasheninnikov describes Siberians feasting on fly agaric mushrooms and falling into intoxication in his "Description of Kamchatka Land". 3
1783		The fly agaric gains its modern name "Amanita muscaria" when it is moved to the genus Amanita by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.
1784		Samuel Odman writes a book arguing that Viking Bezerkers deliberately ingested A. muscaria to put them in a frenzy for battle. This theory is eventually accepted by many Scandinavian historians, but remains without much direct evidence to support it. Wasson and others have taken issue with this description because it seems to contradict the experiences of many who ingest the A. muscaria and find it sedating. 6 [Details] "Of all Swedish plants, however, I consider the Fly-Agaric, Agaricus muscarius, to be the one which really solves the mystery of the Beserks. Its use is so widespread in Northern Asia that there are hardly any nomadic tribes that do not use it in order to deprive themselves of their feelings and senses that may enjoy the animal pleasure of escaping the salutary bonds of reason... Those who use this mushroom first become merry, so that they sing, shout, etc., then it attacks the functions of the brain and they have the sensation of becoming very big and strong; the frenzy increases and is accompanied by unusual energy and convulsive movements. The sober persons in their company often have to watch them to see that they do no violence to themselves or others. The raving lasts 12 hours, more or less." (Odman 1784)
Late 18th Century		English botanist William Curtis and his gardener eat A. muscaria after reading of its shamanic use. They eat a very small dose and report nothing more than a burning sensation in the mouth and stomach. 3
1797		Polish Brigadier Joseph Kopec documents eating fly agaric during his travels in Siberia. 3
1860		Mordecai Cooke's The Seven Sisters of Sleep popularizes stories of the Siberian shamanic use of A. muscaria in Europe.
1880		During a widespread shortage of wine in Italy, Dr. Batista Grassi writes an enthusiastic paper recommending the inebriating effects of A. muscaria as an alternative. 7 [More Info]
1883		Dr. E. Downes writes to The Lancet to describe several Indians who had become delirious after eating what may have been fly agaric mushrooms. 3
c. 1960 - 1965		A. muscaria use appears in United States urban subcultures, but remains rare because many users report the effects to be unpleasant.
1968		R. Gordon Wasson publishes Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality, advancing the theory of sacramental use of A. muscaria in Indians in the time of the Vedas. 4
1972		In his book Difficult Questions, Easy Answers poet Robert Graves proposes that the character of Santa Claus may be based on A. muscaria shamanism. Jonathan Ott develops this theory in his book Hallucinogenic Plants of North America, published in 1976. 8
1978		Native American author Keewaydinoquay writes of the traditional use of A. muscaria by the Ahnishinaubeg (Ojibway) people near Lake Superior in North America. Although this use is assumed to be quite old, the earliest documented use is from the 20th Century. 9, 10
1980s		Several books and scientific journal articles appear which describe modern and traditional use of A. muscaria as an inebriant in many areas of the world, including other native American tribes (such as the Dogrib Athabascan tribe from northwest Canada), groups in Spain, and more tribes in East Asia. 2
2002		Clark Heinrich's Magic Mushrooms in Religion and Alchemy argues that A. muscaria played a key role in many world religions, including Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity. 11
Dec 6, 2008		Entheogenesis Australis Symposium [Details] [More Info] Held at Melbourne University's Copland Theatre in Australia, this event featured presentations from Michael Bock, Vince Cakic, David Caldicott, Deva Daricha, Richard King, Anna Kokavec, Tim Payne, Julian Raxworthy, Des Tramacchi, Torsten Wiedemann. Topics covered included psychoactive mushrooms, shamanism, Ephedra, wine, Tabernanthe iboga, absinthe, toot, books on psychoactives, the ketamine model of schizophrenia, and harm reduction.

References

Wasson RG. Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1968.
Ott J. Pharmacotheon, The Natural Products Co. 1993.
Letcher A. Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom. HarperCollins. 2007.
Wasson RG. Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1968.
Linnaeus C. "Species Plantarum: Tomus II. Holmiae. 1753.
Odman S. "An attempt to explain the Beserk-raging of Ancient Nordic Warriors through Natural History". 1784.
Grassi B. "Il Nostro Agarico Moscirio Sperimentato Come Alimento Nervoso". 1880.
Ott J. "Hallucinogenic Plants of North America". Wingbow Press. 1976.
Keewaydinoquay "Puhpohwee for the People: A Narrative Account of Some Used of Gungi Among the Ahnishinaubeg". 1978 (as cited in Ott J. Pharmacotheon. 1993. pg 333.)
Navet E. "Les Ojibway et l'Amanite tue-mouche (Amanita muscaria). Pour une �thnomycologie des Indiens d'Am�rique du Nord". J Soc Am�ric. 1988;74:163-180.
Heinrich C. "Magic Mushrooms in Religion and Alchemy". Park Street Press. 2002.