For over a hundred years now, scientists have been discussing what plant was used to prepare Soma (Haoma), a sacred drink of the ancient Indians and Iranians, which "inspired poets and seers, made warriors fearless." The hypotheses were plenty: from ephedra, cannabis, and opium poppy to blue water lily (Nymphaea caerulea) and fly agaric (Amanita muscaria). The answer was found in a grave of a noble woman buried in an elite burial ground of the Xiongnu, the famous nomads of Central Asia

Final phase of the restoration of the embroidered carpet. Video by Sergey Zelensky
Importantly, none of the researchers denies the fact that the ancient Indians and Iranians consumed a drink with a psychoactive substance as a sacrament. However, the precise identity of the substance and its plant source, as well as its influence on human consciousness, are still being debated.
The translator and greatest authority on the Rigveda Tatyana Ya. Elizarenkova wrote: “Judging by the Rigveda hymns, Soma was not only stimulating but also a hallucinogenic drink. It is difficult to be more specific not only because none of the plants suggested as soma satisfies all the parameters and only partially answers the description of soma given in the hymns but mainly because the language and style of the Rigveda, an archaic religious tome with the typical features of ‘Indo-European poetic speech’, pose a formidable obstacle to soma identification.” Knowing perfectly well that all the possibilities of the written source had been exhausted, Elizarenkova believed that the answer could come from archaeologists, from “their findings in North-Western India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (and not in remote Central Asia).”
Remarkably, her opinion, expressed 25 years ago, was confirmed by new findings made in Mongolia. No one could have suspected that a grave of a noble woman buried in an elite burial ground of the Xiongnu, the famous nomads of Central Asia, would answer the question asked long ago.
It happened in 2009. A team from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS, which was led by Natalia Polosmak, was performing archaeological excavations in the Noin-Ula Mountains, Northern Mongolia. In tumulus 31, at a depth of 13 meters, the archaeologists discovered a wooden burial chamber. On the floor, which was covered with a thick layer of blue clay, around an old tomb ruined by ancient robbers, there were visible traces of a woollen fabric; this was all that was left of an embroidered strip, which was of great historical value even in this fragmentary state. Textiles are virtually never preserved in ancient graves, and such findings are exceptionally rare. The remains of the textile were retrieved from the grave and delivered to the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS. The second life of this remarkable artefact began thanks to Russian restorers.
The craftsmanship and the story unfolding on the threadbare fabric are truly amazing. Embroidered in woollen thread on the thin cloth is a procession of Zoroastrian warriors marching towards an altar; one of them, standing at the altar, is holding a mushroom in his hands.
A distinguishing feature of this embroidery is that the craftsmen did their best to depict the faces, costume, arms, plants, and insects, trying to copy everything from life. According to the mycologist I.A. Gorbunova (Candidate of Biology, senior researcher with the Inferior Plant Laboratory, Central Siberian Botanical Garden, SB RAS), the mushroom depicted on the carpet belongs to the Strophariaceae family. http://scfh.ru/en/news/w...oma-we-became-immortal-/

Other fungal entheogens grow at the lower levels. They come in cattle dung, are easily identified and gathered, and are effective. But they fail to conform to Brahmin practices: they are known to tribals and sudras [untouchables]. Soma on the other hand exacts self-discipline of the priests, a long initiation and training: it is, for proper exploitation, an affair of a priestly elite. But the possible role of Stropharia cubensis growing in the dung of cattle in the lives of the lower orders remains to this day wholly unexplored. Is S. cubensis responsible for the elevation of the cow to a sacred status? And for the inclusion of the urine and dung of cows in the pañcagavya? -G. Wasson ; "Persephone's Quest"

Other fungal entheogens grow at the lower levels. They come in cattle dung, are easily identified and gathered, and are effective. ...

they are known to tribals and sudras [untouchables]

-wasson

RgVeda: RV 8.82.25 For thee, O Lord of Light, are shed these Soma-drops, and grass is strewn.

im wondering what the climate was like in that area where that thing was found when it was buried.

it does look like a pasture cube to me.
its sorta disturbing how much.

ive been it " soma was a fungi" camp for a long time anyway.

In trad. post-vedic societies and their various religionisms and cults, mushrooms are considered "the menstruation of mother (earth)" so a certain kind of shaiva and vaishnava or even a jain sadhu will have objection in looking into that sort of halahala poison
...

He said, you see the people who spread their beddings on the road side at night? Cows walk carefully around these sleeping peoples, while buffalo walk on top of the sleeping people (hurting/killing them).

It [the textile] was made someplace in Syria or Palestine, embroidered, probably, in north-western India and found in Mongolia.
http://scfh.ru/en/papers...oma-we-became-immortal-/

For the first time, we can see vivid evidence, embroidered on an ancient cloth discovered by archaeological excavations, for the use of mushrooms for religious purposes probably, to make Haoma, a “sacred drink.”
The origin of this embroidery and characters depicted on it is associated with North-Western India and the Indo-Scythians (Sakas). How the embroidered cloth made it into a Xiongnu grave is a surprise of the so-called Silk Road, a network of trade routes crossing the whole of Eurasia. Judging by the Chinese chronicles, veils and blankets from Northern India were highly valued in the Han China.
http://scfh.ru/en/news/w...oma-we-became-immortal-/

i think definitely cubensis is a major ancient entheogen..

i think one problem with the work of Wasson on this subject (and McKenna), though they are both brilliant scholars of entheogens, is they didn't have the time, means or inclination to go as deeply into Vedic/Sanskrit or Pali scholarship, and all the various branches of the diverse culture there, as they could have..

and specifically No potentially entheogenic plants or fungi are openly written about or discussed publicly in traditions where people are well aware of them (Ayurveda for instance) ...i think people are expected to gain knowledge without being spoon fed...a good approach...
also, with thousands of years of knowledge, just one form of entheogen known, be it mushrooms, (however quietly) would be rather primitive..i don't think so

for the knowledge of mushrooms specifically,
a good example is Buddhist traditions (which of course vary a lot in approach)
..there is a good talk here (if you haven't seen it) looking mainly at symbolism and use of entheogenic mushrooms in buddhist iconography and tradition by Michael Crowley here...

Though in Tibet, the pre-Buddhist bon-po, or bon shamans, must have used cannabis, and I suspected they may have used the mushroom or a similar entheogen...

Though Bon terma contain myths of Bon existing before the introduction of Buddhism in Tibet, "in truth the 'old religion' was a new religion. -wikipedia

Like so many people in the sixties, I came up through D. T. Suzuki’s books on Zen, which were very popular at a certain point. And then early on because of my art historical bent, I became interested in Tibetan Buddhism. But my interest was not exactly Buddhism. It was more the shamanic pre-Buddhist Tibet phenomenon of the Bön religion—which grew out of the shamanic culture of pre-Buddhist Tibet. I found among Tibetan Buddhists a lot of prejudice against the Bön. They were definitely second-class citizens inside theocratic Tibet, and they still are. -terence mckenna

It [the textile] was made someplace in Syria or Palestine, embroidered, probably, in north-western India and found in Mongolia.
http://scfh.ru/en/papers...ma-we-became-immortal-/

The origin of this embroidery and characters depicted on it is associated with North-Western India and the Indo-Scythians (Sakas). How the embroidered cloth made it into a Xiongnu grave is a surprise of the so-called Silk Road, a network of trade routes crossing the whole of Eurasia. Judging by the Chinese chronicles, veils and blankets from Northern India were highly valued in the Han China.
http://scfh.ru/en/news/w...ma-we-became-immortal-/