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48,000-year-old bone arrowheads and jewelry discovered in Sri Lankan cave
Artifacts uncovered in southeast Asia offer clues on early complex human cultures.
23 June, 2020
Langley et al., 2020
- Archaeologists discovered a trove of bone tools used roughly 48,000 years ago in a Sri Lankan cave.
- Uncovered artifacts include the earliest known bow-and-arrow devices found out of Africa, weaving utensils, and decorative beads chiseled from the tips of marine snail shells.
- The findings underline the necessity of looking for early Homo sapien innovation in regions outside of the grasslands and coasts of Africa or Europe, where much of the research has been focused.
<p>A group of archaeologists have discovered a remarkable trove of bone tools used roughly 48,000 years ago in a Sri Lankan cave, according to new research published in the journal <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/24/eaba3831" target="_blank">Science Advances</a>.</p>
New discoveries
<p>The study was led by Michelle Langley, an archaeologist at Australia's Griffith University, along with other researchers from Griffith, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), and the Sri Lankan Government's Department of Archaeology.</p><p>The scientists examined tools and artifacts used between 48,000 and 4,000 years ago that were discovered in the Fa-Hien Lena cave site located in Sri Lanka's southwest tropical forests, an area that has become one of the most important archaeological sites in South Asia since the 1980s. The assemblage of artifacts included 130 of the earliest known bone-arrow tips found out of Africa along with 29 utensils likely used to make clothing or bags. Also excavated were decorative beads chiseled from the tips of marine snail shells and the world's oldest known beads made of red ochre — an ancient pigment used for a variety of things from body paint to sunscreen.</p><p>Archaeologists believe that these tools correspond to four phases of ancient human habitation of the site. Using radiocarbon technology to date thirty items from the site, researchers were able to create a timeline detailing how the tools evolved to become more sophisticated over time.</p><p>"Most of these tools were made out of monkey bone, and many of them appear to have been carefully shaped into arrowheads," <a href="https://experts.griffith.edu.au/8914-michelle-langley" target="_blank">Langley</a> told Tim Vernimmen of <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/06/tools-human-early-migration-rainforest-sri-lanka/" target="_blank">National Geographic</a>. "They are too small and light to have been spearheads, which need some weight to gain force, and too heavy and blunt to have been blow darts."</p><p>On close inspection, the size, forms and fractures found on many of the bone points led the researchers to believe that they were used as arrow tips for bow-and-arrow hunting to catch swift and nimble rainforest prey like monkeys and other tree-dwelling creatures. The arrow points increased in length over time for the purpose of hunting larger mammals like deer. If the researcher's conclusions are correct, this finding marks the earliest definitive proof of high-powered projectile hunting in a tropical rainforest environment.</p><p>Additionally, the team uncovered a range of other bone and tooth tools used for scraping and piercing. They were likely used for making nets and working animal skins or plant fibers in the tropical environment.</p><p>"Evidence for the construction of nets is extremely scarce in artifacts many thousands of years old, making this aspect of the Fa-Hien Lena assemblage a startling find," Langley said in <a href="https://news.griffith.edu.au/2020/06/15/discovery-of-oldest-bow-and-arrow-technology-outside-africa/" target="_blank">a Griffith University press release</a>. Because this wasn't a cold region, the authors opine that the clothing made with the assemblage of tools may have been used for protection from insect-borne diseases.</p><p>Other tools discovered at the site were identified as implements probably associated with freshwater fishing.</p>Out of Africa and into the rainforest
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxMDExMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NTQ3NjQ4N30.6JVTKeCHRhzvg5lejtnsxf-2y0n1pHAch0MrxJSre1Y/img.jpg?width=980" id="56032" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8a86a57e2bb25a4caa3d1777fbcd060b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="assortment of bone arrowheads and tools" />"Bone projectile points (A to H) and scrapers (I to K) from Fa-Hien Lena. (A and B) Geometric bipoints, with (B) coming from phase D context 146; (C and F) hilted bipoint, red arrows indicate cut notches; (D and E) hilted unipoints, red arrows and red circle indicate wear indicating fixed hafting; (G and H) symmetrical bipoints"
Langley et al., 2020
<p>Before the great migration out of Africa, smaller groups of humans began to leave the continent between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago eventually migrating into South Asia. These findings offer clues as to how our ancient ancestors adapted to diverse, precarious environments during their global expansion, such as the tropical rainforest. Though the early humans of South Asia likely didn't make their abode in the densely vegetated forest right away, opting instead for the coast, their decedents eventually would. And that move required some nifty new survival technology. </p><p>The researchers pointed out that their discoveries of these ancient tools underline the necessity of looking for early <em>Homo sapien</em> innovation in regions outside of the grasslands and coasts of Africa, or Europe where much of the research has been focused.</p><p>"[T]his traditional focus has meant that other parts of Africa, Asia, Australasia and the Americas have often been sidelined in discussions of the origins of material culture, such as novel projectile hunting methods or cultural innovations associated with our species," <a href="https://news.griffith.edu.au/2020/06/15/discovery-of-oldest-bow-and-arrow-technology-outside-africa/" target="_blank">said Patrick Roberts</a> from MPI-SHH. </p>Complex human societies
<p>The shell beads that the team found indicate that the ancient forest dwellers traded with the populations that stayed along the coast. The beads were rounded and pierced, suggesting that they were strung. Earlier dated beads (around 8,700 years old) were made from red ochre nodules. The ancient jewelry is gauged to be similar in age to other "social signaling" materials found in Eurasia and Southeast Asia, according to the authors, which was around 45,000 years ago. This highlights the importance of establishing social connections for these early people through trade and symbol. </p><p>"Together, these artifacts reveal a rich human culture in the tropics of South Asia which was creating and utilizing complex hunting and social technologies to not only survive, but thrive, in demanding rainforest environments," concluded study co-author Patrick Roberts, Ph.D., a researcher at the University of Queensland.</p>
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This is how you overcome a language barrier
Don't worry about grammar rules at first. They'll only trip you up.
17 June, 2020
- Learning a language can be a tricky process, but it's important to remember that it is a process.
- Having learned 20 languages so far, Canadian polyglot and LingQ founder Steve Kaufmann's advice is to not focus on the grammar. Constantly thinking about the rules while attempting to speak only makes it harder.
- Investing time (often several months) into listening, reading, and practicing words before trying to speak a language will help you feel more comfortable with it. You will make mistakes, but you will learn from them and people will be patient with you.
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Here’s a new way to do study abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond
Would you study abroad online?
10 June, 2020
Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images
With the U.S. and much of the world engulfed in the COVID-19 pandemic, travel restrictions and health risks have threatened to make study abroad difficult, if not impossible.
<p>
But that doesn't mean students won't still want to learn about other cultures and see how people in other parts of the world approach different issues, such as climate change, income inequality or human rights.
</p><p>
Ideally, students would learn about these things in different cultural contexts by actually going to other countries. But since travel abroad to certain countries is <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/map-and-travel-notices.html" target="_blank">off-limits</a> or discouraged due to COVID-19, the question now becomes: How can study abroad still be done?
</p><p>
As a <a href="https://www.iesabroad.org/study-abroad/alumni/profiles/dr-william-%E2%80%9Cbill%E2%80%9D-g-durden#sthash.WoNeXMyS.dpbs" target="_blank">longtime proponent of international education</a>, one solution I see – and one that more and more universities are beginning to pursue – is to have students study abroad online.
</p><p>
American University, Arcadia University Northeastern University and the University of Buffalo are already <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/11/coronavirus-colleges-encourage-staying-home-to-study-abroad.html" target="_blank">advancing</a> <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/28/study-abroad-field-faces-altered-reality-and-unknowns-about-when-regular-programs" target="_blank">virtual study abroad</a>. Their programs range from online courses at a U.S. university's international branch campus to courses offered in partnership with foreign universities.
</p>
<h2>A new approach</h2><p>
These options involve courses designed and taught by either U.S. professors or professors based abroad selected and trained by a U.S. college or university. This is done to make sure the course aligns with the student's graduation requirements.
</p><p>But I see another way to do virtual study abroad that I believe would radically change the way it is done. And that is, U.S. colleges and universities could offer courses from other parts of the world precisely as they are delivered there, not modified to mirror American courses. The idea would be to expose U.S. students to views from outside of the country.<br></p><p>
U.S. colleges and universities could make sure that the selected courses are accredited by reputable organizations, such as the German Accreditation Agency or the Japan Institution for Education Evaluation.
</p><p>
These courses would be delivered through the most advanced technological platforms available. They would also count toward graduation or even be made a graduation requirement. Or they could be a course requirement for a major.
</p><p>
Many universities abroad already offer courses in English that are taught remotely. Being involved with the University of Freiburg in Germany, I've seen firsthand how the online capability of foreign universities increased dramatically as they had to switch online due to the pandemic. Studying abroad online, therefore, is something that could be done right away.
</p>
<h2>Broader understanding</h2><p>
Potential courses could involve climate change studies in Germany or mental health in Denmark. Or instructors could deal with immigration in Italy, the interplay of religion and politics in India or Israel and even human rights in Hong Kong. Students could even enroll in a set of courses on various countries' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
</p><p>
Virtual study abroad would also enable more students to gain exposure to views from other countries because it costs much less. Not all students can readily afford travel and other costs associated with living abroad.
</p><p>
Studying abroad carries important employment and financial benefits. A
<a href="https://www.iie.org/employability">2017 survey </a> from the Institute of International Education survey found that study abroad leads to significant gains various critical skills need for the contemporary workplace. Further, 78% of those interviewed say they discussed their study abroad experiences in job interviews.
</p>
<h2>Eliminating barriers</h2><p>
For virtual study abroad to become a bigger part of U.S. higher education, I see at least three bureaucratic hurdles must be overcome.
</p><p>
The first hurdle is resistance from university leaders. As I inquired about the prospects for virtual study abroad, several senior college and university administrators told me that there is no such thing. For them, study abroad is defined exclusively by physical travel to another country. This is understandable, of course, as many study abroad students anecdotally cite the cultural and social experiences outside the classroom as important to their overall experience.
</p><p>
These administrators, however, are misguided and out of sync with a world afflicted by COVID-19. I also see it as an affront to global climate sustainability for the only option for study abroad to involve air travel and the
<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/12/26/flying-bad-environment-heres-what-do/2350488002/" target="_blank">consumption of vast amounts of fuel</a>.
</p><p>
Secondly, U.S. higher education must accept that there are other ways to educate students beyond the way it is done in the U.S. While the desire to ensure academic integrity is understandable, demanding that international courses be just like the ones already offered in the U.S. obstructs students from encountering other ways to teach and learn.
</p><p>
And, lastly,
<a href="https://ifap.ed.gov/electronic-announcements/040320UPDATEDGuidanceInterruptStudyRelCOVID19" target="_blank">new, temporary rules</a> that let federal student aid be used for online courses delivered by a foreign university need to be made permanent. The Department of Education made the temporary rule changes in April and May so that thousands of U.S. study abroad students could complete their courses remotely here in the U.S. after COVID-19 <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/03/20/covid-19-disrupts-international-student-exchange-both-directions" target="_blank">forced them to return home</a>. Making the changes permanent will enable many more U.S. students to keep studying abroad virtually.
</p><p>
Currently
<a href="https://www.iie.org/Research-and-Insights/Open-Doors/Open-Doors-2019-Media-Information" target="_blank">only 10.9%</a> of college students study abroad at some point while they're earning their degrees. In a world shaken by a pandemic – and where many traditional higher education practices are surely to be reinvented – the virtual study abroad I envision has the potential to give U.S. students a deeper appreciation of perspectives and ideas from other parts of the world.</p><p>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/william-g-durden-759281" target="_blank">William G. Durden</a>, Joint Appointment Professor (research), School of Education, JHU; President Emeritus, Dickinson College, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/johns-hopkins-university-1256" target="_blank">Johns Hopkins University</a></em>
</p><p>
This article is republished from
<a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-a-new-way-to-do-study-abroad-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-and-beyond-138931" target="_blank">original article</a>.
</p>
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Cannabis discovered at an ancient biblical shrine in Israel
That's not frankincense you smell at the "holy of the holies."
02 June, 2020
Photo courtesy of Tel Aviv.
- Cannabis and frankincense were discovered at the "holy of holies" shrine in Tel Arad, Israel.
- Both substances were mixed with animal dung to promote heating.
- This marks the first time cannabis has been found in the Kingdom of Judah.
<p>In an <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26841800/" target="_blank">extensive review</a> of the history and pharmacology of psychedelics, American chemist David E. Nichols writes that this class of serotonergic hallucinogens "may be the oldest class of psychopharmacological agents known to man." Three thousand year old hymns to soma—a tea likely brewed with psilocybin mushrooms—are recorded in Vedic literature; the Eleusinian mysteries almost certainly involved a hallucinogenic brew. </p><p>Humans have been tripping for a long time.</p><p>This isn't surprising. Our ancestors undoubtedly tasted every plant and fungus available. If you're seeking food and stumble into a plant that breaks open the head (as the Bwiti describe the African rainforest shrub, iboga), you'll likely cultivate it. You might even create a ritual or two based on its consciousness-expanding qualities. Maybe a religion springs up devoted to plant life. </p><p>Indian scriptures point to cannabis as often as psilocybin. The god Indra loved drinking <em>bhang</em>, a milky beverage containing enough marijuana to make him trip. Shiva imbibed as well. The Vedas praise cannabis as a "divine nectar" that bestows long life and divine visions. Further north, Chinese Taoists combined cannabis with ginseng in a ceremony that helped monks portend the future. Herodotus praised cannabis steam baths built by the warrior clan, the Scythians. </p><p>As it turns out, Jews loved cannabis as well. An excavation at an Israeli shrine in Tel Arad has uncovered an altar filled with cannabis and frankincense. According to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26841800/" target="_blank">new research</a> published in the journal, Tel Aviv, the "holy of holies" shrine dates back to 750-715 BCE. As the researchers—Eran Arie, Baruch Rosen, and Dvory Namdar—write, the ritual usage appears to be hallucinogenic. </p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5affcdd04591bb11f8badeaa9c585d35"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DvlEras2ytI?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>A black, resinous substance was discovered on two small altars. On one of them, a laboratory analysis found residues of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), and cannabinol (CBN). According to Arie, this marks the first time cannabis has been identified in the Ancient Near East. The article notes that another material was discovered in the resin.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Organic residues attributed to animal dung were also found, suggesting that the cannabis resin had been mixed with dung to enable mild heating."</p><p>The frankincense altar also contained animal fat, which promotes evaporation. Both frankincense and cannabis were likely mixed with animal products to promote burning. The fragrant incense was inhaled—frankincense for its aroma, cannabis for its psychoactive properties. </p><p>Frankincense dates back to the 15<sup>th</sup> century BCE and has long been used ceremonially. In the Bible, this tree resin is as valuable as gold and precious stones. Frankincense is one of the earliest known commodities, dating back 6,000 years on the Arabian peninsula; it fetched a high price as it was traded around the ancient world. While the smell is pleasing it doesn't have the same effect on consciousness. Enter cannabis. </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"As the terpenoids detected are not unique to cannabis and may be found abundantly in many other local plants, it is likely that the cannabis burnt on the altar was not imported for its smell or therapeutic virtues but for its mind-altering abilities, expressed only by heating."</p><p>The authors are aware of hallucinogenic rituals in neighboring lands. This is the first time cannabis has been discovered in the Kingdom of Judah, however. The evidence proves what fans of psychoactive pharmacology have long known: Breaking open the head is an ancient tradition, regardless of ethnicity or religious belief.</p><p>--</p><p><em>Stay in touch with Derek on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/derekberes" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DerekBeresdotcom" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://derekberes.substack.com/" target="_blank">Substack</a>. His next book is</em> "<em>Hero's Dose: The Case For Psychedelics in Ritual and Therapy."</em> </p>
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DMT drug study investigates the ‘entities’ people meet while tripping
Why do so many people encounter beings after smoking large doses of DMT?
20 May, 2020
Pixabay
- DMT is arguably the most powerful psychedelic drug on the planet, capable of producing intense hallucinations.
- Researchers recently surveyed more than 2,000 DMT users about their encounters with 'entities' while tripping, finding that respondents often considered these strange encounters to be positive and meaningful.
- The majority of respondents believed the beings they encountered were not hallucinations.
<p>The psychedelic drug DMT can produce powerful visions. In low doses, people often hallucinate fractal patterns, geometric shapes, and distortions in the physical space around them. But things get much stranger with higher doses.</p><p>When people consume enough DMT (N,N-Dimethyltryptamine) to have a "breakthrough" experience, they often encounter beings that seem autonomous, existing in a reality separate from our own.</p><p>The form and nature of these beings vary in reports, but one thing remains curiously constant: People tend to rank these encounters among the most meaningful experiences of their lives. For some people, these encounters change their beliefs about reality, the existence of an afterlife, and God.</p><p>A recent survey provides some of the most detailed information about these encounters to date. Published in the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0269881120916143" target="_blank">Journal of Psychopharmacology</a>, the survey includes responses from 2,561 adults about their single most memorable encounter with a being (or beings) after smoking or vaporizing DMT. (DMT is an endogenous chemical, meaning the body produces it naturally, though it's currently a Schedule I drug in the U.S.)</p><p>Most respondents had used DMT about a dozen times in their life. The survey excluded experiences in which people consumed other drugs with DMT, and it didn't include experiences with <a href="https://bigthink.com/personal-growth/ayahuasca-suicide" target="_blank">ayahuasca</a>, which is a brew that contains DMT. </p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzI5MTMyMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMjQ4NjQ4NH0.NXG0gVUWD8lfU-usxBqfLdWAC1Tx59QqiEVosVfcdZA/img.jpg?width=980" id="45ac3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="60ef2f872d16f3493d71f8181464082c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>The results show:</p><p><strong>The encounters produced an emotional response for 99 percent of people</strong>. The most common emotions were "joy (65%), trust (63%), surprise (61%), love (59%), kindness (56%), friendship (48%), and fear (41%) during the encounter experience, with smaller proportions reporting emotions such as sadness (13%), distrust (10%), disgust (4%), or anger (3%)." Interestingly, 58 percent of respondents said the being also had an emotional response, almost always a positive one.</p><p><strong>The encounters felt more "real" than reality</strong>. This was true for 81 percent of respondents during the encounter, and 65 percent after the encounter. One respondent wrote: "There was an indescribably powerful notion that this dimension in which the entity and I convened was infinitely more "real" than the consensus reality I usually inhabit. It felt truer than anything else I'd ever experienced."</p><p><strong>People described the entities in different ways.</strong> The most commonly chosen labels "were "being," (60%) "guide," (43%) "spirit," (39%) "alien," (39%) or "helper" (34%). Other labels selected by small proportions of respondents (range 10–16%), included the terms "angel," "elf," "religious personage," or "plant spirit," and very few (range 1–5%) reporting the terms "gnome," "monster," or a "deceased" person."</p><p><strong>Most people said the beings weren't hallucinations.</strong> About three-quarters of respondents said they believe the being was real, but it exists in some kind of different dimension or reality. Only 9 percent said the being existed "completely within myself."</p><p><strong>Most described the beings positively. </strong>"When asked about the attributes of the entity, a majority of the sample reported that the entity was conscious (96%), intelligent (96%), benevolent (78%), sacred (70%), had agency in the world (54%), and was positively judgmental (52%). Fewer reported that the entity was petitionable (23%), negatively judgmental (16%), or malicious (11%)."</p><p><strong>Most received a message during the encounter.</strong> About two-thirds of respondents said they received "a message, task, mission, purpose, or insight from the entity encounter experience."</p><p>What kinds of messages? Some people were shown that death isn't the end, that everything and everyone is connected. Others had personal insights revealed to them, such as bad behaviors that they should stop.</p><p>Some messages were strangely practical — one respondent said the beings revealed the location of a Zippo lighter that had been missing (it was buried deep in a couch, go figure). There was also the respondent who said a being "was teaching me the rules/regulations of the NFL."</p><p><strong>The encounters were often followed by lasting changes in well-being and beliefs.</strong> About one-quarter of respondents said they were atheist before the encounter, but only 10 percent said they were after.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Additionally, approximately one-third (36%) of respondents reported that before the encounter their belief system included a belief in ultimate reality, higher power, God, or universal divinity, but a significantly larger percentage (58%) of respondents reported this belief system after the encounter."</p><p>What's more, 89 percent of respondents said the encounter led to lasting improvements in well-being or life-satisfaction. Why? The researchers suggested that "ontological shock" — the state of being forced to question your worldview — may "play an important role in the enduring positive life changes in attitudes, moods, and behavior attributed to these experiences."</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"As such, it is possible that, under appropriate supportive set and setting conditions, DMT could show promise as an adjunct to therapy for people with mood and behavioral problems (e.g. depression and addiction)," the researchers wrote.</p><p>The study also noted that DMT encounters have a lot in common with near-death and alien-abduction experiences, which also have been shown to produce long-lasting changes in personal beliefs.</p>
What are DMT beings?
<p>Do DMT entities actually exist in some other dimension, or are they hallucinations that the brain generates when its visual processing system is overwhelmed by a powerful tryptamine?<br></p><p>The late American ethnobotanist Terence McKenna believed that DMT beings — which he called "machine elves" — were real. Here's how he once <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/dmt-machine-elves-facts/inigo-gonzalez" target="_blank">described</a> one of his DMT experiences:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"I sank to the floor. I [experienced] this hallucination of tumbling forward into these fractal geometric spaces made of light and then I found myself in the equivalent of the Pope's private chapel and there were insect elf machines proffering strange little tablets with strange writing on them, and I was aghast, completely appalled, because [in] a matter of seconds... my entire expectation of the nature of the world was just being shredded in front of me. I've never actually gotten over it.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">These self-transforming machine elf creatures were speaking in a colored language which condensed into rotating machines that were like Fabergé eggs but crafted out of luminescent superconducting ceramics and liquid crystal gels. All this stuff was just so weird and so alien and so un-English-able that it was a complete shock — I mean, the literal turning inside out of [my] intellectual universe!"</p><p>McKenna believed machine elves exist in alternate realities, which form a "<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/old-favourites-the-archaic-revival-1991-by-terence-mckenna-1.3924887" target="_blank">raging universe of active intelligence that is transhuman, hyperdimensional, and extremely alien.</a>" But he was far from the first to believe that DMT is a doorway to other realms.</p><p>Indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin have used ayahuasca in religious ceremonies for centuries, though no one is quite sure when they first started experimenting with the psychedelic brew. The Jibaro people of the Ecuadorian rainforest believed ayahuasca allowed regular people, not just shamans, to <a href="https://atrium.lib.uoguelph.ca/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10214/17902/RichardsonG_202004_HonThesis.pdf?sequence=3" target="_blank">speak directly to the gods</a>. The 19th-century Ecuadorian geographer Villavicencio wrote of other Amazonian shamans who used ahaysuca (known as the "vine of the dead") to contact spirits and foresee enemy battle plans.</p><p>In the West, research on DMT experiences has been sparse yet interesting. The psychiatrist Rick Strassman conducted some of the first human DMT trials at the University of New Mexico in the early 1990s. He found that <a href="https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/dmt/dmt_article3.shtml" target="_blank">"at least half"</a> of his research subjects had encountered some form of entity after taking DMT.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"I was neither intellectually nor emotionally prepared for the frequency with which contact with beings occurred in our studies, nor the often utterly bizarre nature of these experiences," Strassman wrote in his book "DMT The Spirit Molecule".</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMwNDQ2MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNDIxMTMwMH0.sawFd1O1-YiCe47us5Nzv84tQRFIjjN_wNA7MdgT6Yo/img.jpg?width=980" id="782e0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8d0723c82e615e60ede50709945f897c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>Of course, many people believe that DMT beings are merely hallucinations. But the question remains: Why do so many people encounter similar beings, like elves and aliens?</p><p>One answer: That's exactly what people expect to encounter. After all, it's likely that people who seek out a rare and intense drug like DMT have researched it, and possibly stumbled across McKenna's machine-elf idea. So, that's the image their brain produces. (An <a href="https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/dmt/dmt_article3.shtml" target="_blank">Erowid survey</a> on the topic of DMT beings once included the question: "Do you know who Terence McKenna is?" 54 percent of respondents reported having some knowledge of him.)</p><p>Another explanation comes from a 2004 <a href="http://tripzine.com/listing.php?id=dmt_pickover" target="_blank">DoseNation article</a> by James Kent, the author of "Psychedelic Information Theory — Shamanism in the Age of Reason". Kent argued that "humans across all cultures have alien and heavenly archetypes embedded in their subconscious, and psychedelic tryptamines can access the archetypes with a high level of success."</p><p>Kent said he's encountered "elves" during his own DMT experiences, and that he's even managed to have "rudimentary conversations of sorts" with them. In his personal experiments, he tested whether these beings could reveal to him any information that he himself would be incapable of knowing. They couldn't.</p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMwNDM1MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDM5MTE0Nn0.tTJcc3LJMlsGXhF8H0EM2YE6zypkggbT7wb9FApGdX8/img.jpg?width=980" id="03f25" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="614ffe047dca7beef3ff820aa3a37a60" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Ayahuasca Ceremony in the Peruvian Amazon" />Ayahuasca Ceremony in the Peruvian Amazon
Manuel Medir / Getty
<p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Whenever I tried to pull any information out of the entities regarding themselves, the data that was given up was always relevant only to me. The elves could not give me any piece of data I did not already know, nor could their existence be sustained under any kind of prolonged scrutiny."</p><p>It's also worth noting that not all people who smoke DMT see beings, and that some see beings that look <a href="https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/dmt/dmt_article3.shtml" target="_blank">nothing like elves or aliens</a>. The diversity of these reports seems to count against the argument that DMT beings exist in some objective alternate reality.</p><p>In other words, if DMT beings exist in some other dimension, shouldn't they appear the same to anyone who visits that dimension? Or do the beings assume a different appearance based on who's looking? Or are there many types of beings in the DMT universe, but most look like elves? </p><p>You might start seeing elves just trying to sort this stuff out.</p><p>Ultimately, nobody knows exactly why DMT beings take the forms they do, or whether they're just figments of overstimulated imaginations. And the answers might be beside the point. </p><p>In the recent survey, 60 percent of participants said their encounter with DMT beings "produced a desirable alteration in their conception of reality whereas only 1% indicated an undesirable alteration in their conception of reality."</p><p>DMT beings may be nothing more than projections of the subconscious mind. But these bizarre encounters do help some people find real meaning, whether it's through personal revelation or the raw power of ontological shock.</p>
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