Psychoactive rituals in ancient Andes and implementing education at scale

Podcast snapshot

The Science podcast covers two pivotal topics. First, anthropologist Andrew Lawler discusses fresh residue-analytic evidence that psychoactive rituals may have propelled social and religious development in pre Inca Andean cultures, including Chavin de Huantar and Tiwanaku. In the second segment, education researcher Noam Angrist outlines how to move beyond isolated trials toward scalable, policy-relevant implementation strategies for global learning improvements.

• Key insight 1: Residue analysis identifies vilca and related psychoactives in ancient Andean ritual contexts, suggesting careful, one on one ritual practices under priests or shamans.
• Key insight 2: Long distance trade networks and early urban centers set the stage for complex psychoactive use across the Andes before the Inca empire.
• Key insight 3: The podcast then shifts to the education sector, where implementation science focuses on how to translate proven pedagogies into large scale, government driven practice.
• Key insight 4: Adaptive and rapid evaluation methods, including AB testing, are proposed to address heterogeneity and scale in global education, with attention to measurement and policy uptake.

Introduction

The podcast presents two complementary explorations of science in society. In the first half, contributing correspondent Andrew Lawler reports on archaeological evidence that psychoactive plant rituals played a central role in shaping ancient Andean cultures, extending from the coast to highlands and across centuries before the rise of the Inca. In the second half, Noam Angrist discusses how to implement educational interventions at a global scale, addressing a learning crisis that persists despite high rates of schooling in many settings.

Archaeology of psychoactive rituals in the Andes

Lawler describes how archaeologists have long suspected that psychoactives influenced ancient Andean societies. The discussion centres on several key substances, including vilca and mescaline, coca leaf products, San Pedro cactus, ayahuasca, and other compounds embedded in ritual practice. The Chavin de Huantar site in central Peru is highlighted as an especially informative case. Researchers used residue analysis to chemically identify psychoactive substances preserved in artifacts. They found bone tubes containing vilca residues that were used to blow the drug through the nose during ritual sessions, suggesting intimate, one on one engagement with shamans or priests. The subterranean ritual complexes and a sky and sound show created by reflections from polished stones and conch trumpets would have amplified the experience, reinforcing religious or political messages central to the site’s ritual economy.

Beyond Chavin, the episode explores surrounding sites such as Atala in central Peru, where cups shaped like San Pedro cacti hint at mescaline use, though degradation may obscure firm identification. The interview emphasizes the evolving technology of residue analysis and its capacity to identify dozens or hundreds of molecular compounds, even in vessels that have traveled through time and across collections. The discussion also covers Bolivia’s Tiwanaku culture, where wooden snuff trays indicate widespread use of Vilka across a broad geographic span. The presence of snuff tablets in northern Chile demonstrates the extent of psychoactive traditions across the central Andes, and the Wari and Tiwanaku periods illustrate distinct patterns of use. The Wari appear to have supported beer drinking with Vilca in some contexts, while Tiwanaku maintained intense, snuff-based practices. This variability reveals how different societies, even when close in time and geography, developed divergent rituals and governance around psychoactives.

The piece also addresses methodological and ethical questions about residue sampling from elite sites versus museum collections, contamination risks, and the degradation and degradation pathways of mescaline metabolites. Lawler emphasizes how combining art historical evidence with chemical residue data can yield a more complete understanding of ritual significance, including how psychoactive experiences are depicted in ritual iconography as transformative experiences shifting humans into animal or altered states that reinforce religious belief systems. The overarching insight is that psychoactive substances were an important driver, culture Shaping force, in the centuries before the Inca Empire, contributing to the formation of social and political authority across the Andes.

Education implementation at scale

The second segment features Noam Angrist, Academic director of the what Works Hub for Global Education at the Blavatnik School of Government, discussing how to translate education research into scalable policy and practice. He argues that, although schooling has expanded globally, learning gains have not kept pace. Many children enter school but struggle to acquire fundamental literacy and numeracy. This gap is not solely a function of knowledge about what works; it is a problem of implementation – how to deploy, adapt, and sustain proven pedagogies in diverse country contexts at scale.

Angrist highlights two evidence-based approaches with robust support in trials: structured pedagogy, which provides teachers with detailed lesson guides and ongoing coaching, and teaching at the right level, which differentiates instruction to align with each child’s current level. He notes that implementation questions matter as much as efficacy questions. How should these approaches fit into the school calendar? Should they replace or supplement existing math and literacy blocks? How can coaching be delivered cost-effectively so governments can scale it? These practical considerations are essential to moving from small, controlled studies to nationwide or multi-country programs.

The conversation also emphasizes methodological innovation. Adaptive testing and real-time AB testing can provide timely, causal evidence in dynamic implementation settings. Such approaches can help answer who benefits, where, and under what conditions, addressing heterogeneity across urban and rural contexts and across countries with different education systems. Angrist argues that a more nimble learning system can sustain impact as programs evolve, ensuring that evidence remains relevant as contexts change.

A critical theme is the translation of evidence into policy and practice. The discussion considers what policymakers respond to, whether local or global evidence carries more weight, and whether causal evidence or descriptive evidence drives adoption. The need to study the translation process itself—how to achieve policy uptake and then delivery in schools—is stressed. The segment also notes momentum in the field, with metrics indicating a learning crisis in many low and middle-income countries, including significant learning poverty. Angrist suggests that the moment is ripe for frameworks that connect measurement, learning, and policy implementation to drive long-term improvements in education outcomes.

Convergence of themes

While the two topics appear distinct, they share a core concern: turning scientific understanding into tangible, durable improvements in human life. In archaeology, advanced residue analysis and careful interpretation of material culture illuminate how psychoactive substances shaped civilizations. In education, implementation science offers a path to scale and sustain evidence-based practices in real-world settings. The podcast closes by underscoring that data, collaboration, and thoughtful translation from evidence to policy are essential to progress in both domains.