How Mushrooms Helped Us To Become Human

13,000 years ago, someone chewed a plant under a cave ceiling—and the world changed.

Long before overdose epidemics or prohibition, humans used psychoactive substances to mourn, to heal, and to reach beyond themselves.

In this video, we trace the first proven high in human history—preserved in the red ochre spiral of California’s Pinwheel Cave—and follow that thread across ancient rites, sacred chemistry, colonial erasure, synthetic collapse, and the quiet question we’ve been asking ever since:

What were we really trying to find?

🧠 Backed by archaeology, neuroscience, and anthropology
🎙️ Told with depth, story, and precision

This isn’t just about drugs.
It’s about being human.
If it sparked something in you, pass it on. And keep listening to the echoes.

00:00 The First High
03:49 The First One We Can Prove
10:44 The Chemistry of the Sacred
16:44 Culture Built on Vision
25:15 When Things Changed
32:00 The High We Can’t Come Down From
38:44 What Was It Ever For?
42:10 Echoes of the First High

📚 Sources cited & inspiration:

Pinwheel Cave study, PLOS ONE, 2020
Carhart-Harris et al. (Imperial College London)
Griffiths et al. (Johns Hopkins)
UNODC 2022 Global Drug Report
CDC opioid statistics
Lewis-Williams & Pearce on cave art and trance
Powell et al., 2009 — Demography and innovation

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#AncientRitual #CaveArt #PinwheelCave
#DrugHistory #TranceStates #Neuroscience
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#Anthropology #Archaeology #EchoesOfThePast
#TheLongSilence #EvolutionOfCulture