It ’s gruelling to chirk up up a nipper who has just been take   as asacrifice to the gods , but the Incas may have plied their young   slaughter   victims with drugs to keep their flavor up , raw inquiry propose .

appear in theJournal of Archaeological Science : study , the subject presents toxicologic findings from two   children   dispatched atop a volcano in Peru , both of whom test positively charged for cocaine and alkaloid find in ayahuasca .

Thought to have been aged between six and seven at the sentence of their dying , the two children were immolate around 500 years ago as part of acapacocharitual ,   hap at an altitude of 5,800 meter on the Ampato mountain .

One of the most important Inca ceremonies , thecapacochawas performed to protect community of interests from natural disasters , usually involving thesacrifice of childrenand young woman .

For the Incas , however , just bump off a youngster to gentle the gods did n’t quite abridge the mustard – bodies were often deposited at strategical point where they were likely to bestruck by lightning . In this case , it seems that both the immortal and the someone were satisfied with the proceedings , as both tribute were beat by lightning bolts after their deaths . As a resolution , the written report authors were only able to get a hair sampling from one of the bodies and had to make do with a fingernail from the other .

After analyze these remains , they found that both test positive for cocain , suggest that they were given coca plant leaf to chew during their last weeks .

The researcher also found traces of the alkaloids harmine and harmaline in both children . ruminate on the source of these chemical , the authors explain that “ the only potential source of harmine and harmaline in the Andean region isBanisteriopsis caapi , ” referring to the jungle vine from which the psychedelic brewayahuascais made .

Given   that these alkaloids are known to boost serotonin levels in the brain and generateanti - depressant effects , the researchers purport that the victims were probably   serve ayahuasca prior to their slaughter to avail them stay positive .

This theory is substantiate by the diaries of former Spanish conquistadores , who account that dupe ’ moods were considered to be of slap-up importance to the succeeder of Inca sacrificial rituals .

“ The knowledge of being about to be ceremonially sacrificed in such a forbidding blank space as a mountain superlative likely produced serious anxiety in a future victim and could have produced a depressive state , ” write the source . “ The active consumption ofBanisteriopsis caapimight have helped keep the dupe more accepting of their fates . ”

“ If so , this would be the first exercise of the conscious employment of the antidepression property of ayahuasca , ” they resolve .