TY - JOUR
T1 - Chemical evidence for the use of multiple psychotropic plants in a 1,000-year-old ritual bundle from South America
AU - Miller, Melanie J.
AU - Albarracin-Jordan, Juan
AU - Moore, Christine
AU - Capriles, José M.
N1 - Funding Information:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We thank Cindy Coulter and Margaux Garnier of Immunalysis Corporation, the National Geographic Foundation, and the Stahl Foundation (UC Berkeley Archaeological Research Facility); the Ministry of Cultures and Tourism of Bolivia and the Mancomunidad de Lípez, including the regional authorities of San Agustin and Alota, for their endorsement of our research, and all the men and women of the local communities that assisted in the excavations; and Darwin Palomino, José Moller, Carlos Revilla, Carlos Capriles, Alejandra Domic, Blaine Maley, BrieAnna Langlie, Maria Bruno, and Eduardo Machicado for their contributions in the excavations. Funds for archaeological fieldwork in the Sora valley (Lípez) were provided by National Geographic Society Grant 8742-10, MONOPOL Ltda., and the Bartolome de Las Casas Foundation.
Funding Information:
We thank Cindy Coulter and Margaux Garnier of Immunalysis Corporation, the National Geographic Foundation, and the Stahl Foundation (UC Berkeley Archaeological Research Facility); the Ministry of Cultures and Tourism of Bolivia and the Mancomunidad de Lípez, including the regional authorities of San Agustin and Alota, for their endorsement of our research, and all the men and women of the local communities that assisted in the excavations; and Darwin Palomino, José Moller, Carlos Revilla, Carlos Capriles, Alejandra Domic, Blaine Maley, BrieAnna Langlie, Maria Bruno, and Eduardo Machicado for their contributions in the excavations. Funds for archaeological fieldwork in the Sora valley (Lípez) were provided by National Geographic Society Grant 8742-10, MONOPOL Ltda., and the Bartolome de Las Casas Foundation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Over several millennia, various native plant species in South America have been used for their healing and psychoactive properties. Chemical analysis of archaeological artifacts provides an opportunity to study the use of psychoactive plants in the past and to better understand ancient botanical knowledge systems. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used to analyze organic residues from a ritual bundle, radiocarbon dated to approximately 1,000 C.E., recovered from archaeological excavations in a rock shelter located in the Lípez Altiplano of southwestern Bolivia. The site is located at an elevation of ∼3,900 m above sea level and contains evidence of intermittent human occupations during the last 4,000 years. Chemical traces of bufotenine, dimethyltryptamine, harmine, and cocaine, including its degradation product benzoylecgonine, were identified, suggesting that at least three plants containing these compounds were part of the shamanic paraphernalia dating back 1,000 years ago, the largest number of compounds recovered from a single artifact from this area of the world, to date. This is also a documented case of a ritual bundle containing both harmine and dimethyltryptamine, the two primary ingredients of ayahuasca. The presence of multiple plants that come from disparate and distant ecological areas in South America suggests that hallucinogenic plants moved across significant distances and that an intricate botanical knowledge was intrinsic to pre-Columbian ritual practices.
AB - Over several millennia, various native plant species in South America have been used for their healing and psychoactive properties. Chemical analysis of archaeological artifacts provides an opportunity to study the use of psychoactive plants in the past and to better understand ancient botanical knowledge systems. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used to analyze organic residues from a ritual bundle, radiocarbon dated to approximately 1,000 C.E., recovered from archaeological excavations in a rock shelter located in the Lípez Altiplano of southwestern Bolivia. The site is located at an elevation of ∼3,900 m above sea level and contains evidence of intermittent human occupations during the last 4,000 years. Chemical traces of bufotenine, dimethyltryptamine, harmine, and cocaine, including its degradation product benzoylecgonine, were identified, suggesting that at least three plants containing these compounds were part of the shamanic paraphernalia dating back 1,000 years ago, the largest number of compounds recovered from a single artifact from this area of the world, to date. This is also a documented case of a ritual bundle containing both harmine and dimethyltryptamine, the two primary ingredients of ayahuasca. The presence of multiple plants that come from disparate and distant ecological areas in South America suggests that hallucinogenic plants moved across significant distances and that an intricate botanical knowledge was intrinsic to pre-Columbian ritual practices.
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1902174116
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1902174116
M3 - Article
C2 - 31061128
AN - SCOPUS:85066636410
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 166
SP - 11207
EP - 11212
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 23
ER -