Nazca human sacrifice victim used psychedelics before death

Research at a ritual site in Nazca, Peru, has revealed that a child sacrificed in a religious ceremony more than a thousand years ago had consumed the psychedelic drug mescaline before his execution. Scientists made the discovery by analyzing a single hair from the head of a child whose head had been severed at the neck and fashioned into a ritual trophy.

The surviving head was one of 22 human remains from the ancient Nazca civilization that ruled southern Peru from about 100 BC to more than a thousand years ago and were recovered as part of an archaeological program known as the Nazca Project.

Analysis of a single hair from the child’s head, whose sex and age are unknown at the time of death, revealed that the victim had ingested San Pedro cacti (Echinopsis pachanoi) some time before death, possibly as part of a religious ceremony. San Pedro cactus contains the natural psychedelic drug mescaline and was known to have been used for medicinal and religious purposes by South American indigenous cultures.

“The trophy head is the first case of consumption of San Pedro by a person living on the southern Peruvian coast,” the study’s lead author Dagmara Socha, a PhD student at the Center for Andean Studies at the University of Warsaw in Poland, told Live Science. “It is also the first evidence that some of the victims who were made into trophy heads were given stimulants before they died.”

Further analysis of hair samples taken from the other remains revealed that many of the deceased had taken psychedelics or stimulants before their deaths. Through toxicological analysis, the researchers found that in addition to the San Pedro cactus, the researchers also discovered traces of Banisteriopsis caapi, the main ingredient in the psychedelic brew ayahuasca, a component of the ritual ceremonies of some South American indigenous cultures. In addition, many had ingested coca leaf, the source of the stimulant cocaine.

“It was quite interesting to see how many people had access [these plants]’ said Socha. “We also wanted to discover the trade route of some of these ancient plants. For example, the coca leaves were not grown on the southern coast of Peru, so they had to be brought there from either northern Peru or the Amazon.”

Archaeological artifacts discovered at the Nazca site

In addition to the human remains, researchers uncovered other items from the tombs, including ceramic pots, textiles, tools for weaving, and a bag used to store coca leaves, known as a chuspa. The researchers determined that the drug use of the individuals found at the archeological site dated back to between 100 BC and 100 BC. and 450 AD occurred.

“We can see that this transition of assets started early and we can actually track the trading network,” Socha said. “Our research shows that these plants were extremely important to different cultures for their medicinal or visionary effects. Especially since there is none [written record] from that period, so what we know about Nazca and other nearby cultures comes from archaeological research.”

Rainer Bussmann, a professor in the department of ethnobiology at the Institute of Botany at Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia, and head of botany at the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart in Germany, published a 2006 study examining the use of medicinal plants by indigenous communities in the north Peru. His research also explored the trade routes for various crops in the area.

“There has always been some trade in this region, with crops traded up and down the Amazon [Peruvian] Coast,” said Bussmann, who was not involved in the new study. “These plants were traditionally used for ceremonial or medicinal purposes and [were] sometimes combined. I’ve never seen reports of recreational use. For these cultures, there has always been a purpose.”

Although evidence suggests the plants were used for medicinal and ceremonial purposes, Socha noted that researchers have not determined the extent of their use in the Nazca culture.

“We don’t actually know how often these [plants] were used,” she said. “In the case of San Pedro, it is not well preserved in an archaeological context, and in the case of coca leaves and Banisteriopsis caapi, they were never found to be growing in this region during this period.”

The results of the study will be published in the December 2022 issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science.