Terence Mckenna covered all this thirty five years ago.
Marked for later resesrch
The author of this piece notes that hallucinogens, inuding in snake venom, may have played a role in rituals that assisted in the emergence of recursive thought (self awsreness) on an individual basis. There are feminine snake cults throught history in many parts of the world. For example, Babies do not engage in recursive thought until they are 1 1/2 to 2 years old. Was it that recursive thought in pre- holocene males emerged later in life assisted by such rituals?