Different species of the alkaloid-bearing plant Ephedra have been highly researched as materia medica in both premodern and modern medical systems. However, very little is know about Ephedra's uses as a ritual plant. This lecture presents new research data on Ephedra use in Himalayan and Tibetan ritual cultures. This is compared with the plant's occurrence in archaeological records of Central Asian burial sites, and the possibility of some ancient continuities between the different data sets is explored.
Toni Huber has been Professor of Tibetologie at the Humboldt University in Berlin since 2003. His research interests and published oeuvre focus on ethnography and cultural history of Tibetan Plateau and eastern Himalayan highland societies, environment and society, ritual and religion, and nomadic pastoralism.