Egyptian Psychedelic Drinks, Inca Khipus, and Truth About Pompeii Body Casts | ArchaeoNews Review

Through groundbreaking chemical and DNA analysis, scientists identified traces of a powerful concoction inside the Tampa Museum of Art's Bes mug. Bes is an ancient Egyptian deity worshipped as a household protector. The drink contained psychedelic drugs, bodily fluids, and alcohol. Experts believe this hallucinogenic cocktail played a key role in magical ceremonies.

Source:
https://phys.org/news/2024-11-egyptians-drank-hallucinogenic-cocktails-ancient.html

Fashioned from knotted strings, khipus are recording devices historically used by a number of cultures in the central Andes Mountains of South America. They were especially important to the Inca Empire. A new analysis of two extraordinary khipus brings us a step closer to a breakthrough in decoding their meaning.

Source:
https://phys.org/news/2024-11-incas-stringy-khipus-closer.html

For centuries, the plaster casts of the victims of the Mount Vesuvius eruption—like a mother and child or two women embracing—shaped our understanding of the last desperate moments of many Pompeians and gave us a glimpse of their lives and relationships. Now, researchers have rewritten these narratives using DNA extracted from 14 plaster casts.

Source:
https://phys.org/news/2024-11-dna-evidence-rewrites-told-stories.html

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro
00:20 Hallucinogenic Drinks
02:50 Inca Khipus
05:45 Pompeians’ DNA