‘A trippy tale of hallucinogens and human sacrifice’: Peru: A Journey in Time – review

British Museum, London
Cactus-induced visions and shamanic pan pipe rituals abound in this celebration of an ancient folk culture that marched to its own drumbeat

Like a llama chewing its cud, Peru begins placidly: there is a display of pots. You could be forgiven for feeling a bit underwhelmed. But this exhibition’s calm, steady pace and cool layout provide essential grounding as you try to get your head around 2,000 years of ritual warfare, human sacrifice and top-notch hallucinogenics.

This is not really an exhibition about Peru, the modern country, but the civilisations of the Andes that long preceded its existence. It traces the cultures of this mountain region from antiquity up to 1534, when Francisco Pizarro and a band of Spanish conquistadors defeated the Inca empire. Ancient Peru’s peoples, from the Chavín culture that goes back to about 800BC through the great art of the Nasca and Moche to the rise of the Incas, are lucidly presented. Once you acclimatise to all the clay and amazingly preserved textiles, you are in a lost world of addictive spectacle and mystery.

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