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"PALEO-SIBERIAN

Some of the earliest records reporting the possible use of Amanita muscaria as an inebriant may be viewed in the ancient Vedic Hymns (Unsigned a, and b). In recent times we have learned that some isolated groups of Finn?Ugrian people, the Ostyak and the Vogul of Western Siberia are known to employ Amanita muscaria shamanistically. So are the Chukchee, Koryak and Kamchadal people of Northeastern Siberia (Heizer, 1944; Brekham & Sam, 1967; Wasson, 1968; LaBarre, 1975). Other reports verify that the use of Amanita muscaria is not just restricted geographically to western and northern Siberia (James Arthur 2000, Carl Ruck & Blaise Staples 2001). Both Graves (1960) and Schultes (1976) have indicated that some Finns and Lapps, as well as Afghanis all use this species shamanistically (Graves, 1960; Schultes, 1976). It is also well documented in Japan and the Philippines. The use of Amanita muscaria was recently reported among some groups of North American Indians (Wasson, 1979b). In her books "Windmills of the Mind" and "Hallucinogens: Cross Cultural Perspectives," Marlene Dobkin de Rios (1976, 1984) discusses the strange custom of Amanita urine?drinking by the reindeer herdsmen of Siberia. Travelers and explorers in Siberia had first reported this interesting habit during the late seventeenth and eighteenth century and similar evidence of the urine drinking is also mentioned in the Vedic scriptures (Rig Veda, 9th and 10th mandalas, Unsigned A, Unsigned B). It is likely that some psilocybian mushrooms were also used in Siberian shamanism (Wasson, 1968).


North American Indians
In North America, Amanita muscaria has been observed and reportedly used among two different groups of Native American Indians:

l). The Dogrib Athabascan (Schultes & Hofmann 1979) and

2). The Ojibway of Northern Michigan, U.S.A; and Ontario, Canada (Keewaydinoquay, 1978, 1979, 1998; Wasson, 1979b).

Use of this Amanita species by Native American Indians dates back over four hundred years. This is the only presently well known record of a group of North American Indians who use mushrooms as a sacrament. It should be noted that several Native American Indian tribes share in their mythology stories of little people associated with mushrooms (Ojibwe, Chippewa, Iriquois and others) and it would not be surprising to discover a much more widespread knowledge of the mushrooms among tribes that are presently hesitant to give up these religious sacraments to mildly curious western inquisitors.

The active ingredients isolated from Amanita muscaria include ibotenic acid and muscimol (Saleminck, 1963; Eugster, Muller & Good, 1965) and the same causative agents have also been isolated from a similar species; Amanita pantherina (Takemoto, Nakajima & Sakuma, 1964). Both of the above-mentioned species are sometimes employed as recreational drugs in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States (Ott, 1978b; Weil, 1977, 1980) and in Europe (Fericgla, 1992, 1993; Festi and Bianchi, 1991). Furthermore, there are several other species of Amanita, which also contain these classical agents (Ott, 1993; Guzm?n, Allen & Gartz, 2000).
The chemical compounds found in Amanita species are vastly different in action to those fungi known to contain the alkaloids psilocine and/or psilocybine."

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