Archaeologists Explored Secret Mountain Rooms--and Found Ancient Psychedelic Paraphernalia

[Judi Lynn]

The discovery of ancient bones carved iAccess to psychoactive plants was a privilege in pre-Inca culture.

By Tim Newcomb
Published: May 09, 2025 2:00 PM EDT

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The discovery of ancient bones carved into tubes in the mountains of Peru led researchers to conduct chemical analyses.

Results of chemical and microscopic studies showed that the tubes contained hallucinogenic substances—the first direct evidence of its kind from the region.

The the substances were used as part of a hierarchical class system, as well as for their hallucinogenic impact.

Researchers discovered that pre-Inca stone structures from the mountains of Peru had secret rooms accessible to only the most exclusive in society. In those rooms, they found bones carved into tubes used as psychedelic paraphernalia—part of a ritualistic experience in which special leaders smoked psychoactive plants.

“Taking psychoactives was not just about seeing visions,” Daniel Contreras, an anthropological archaeologist at the University of Florida, said in a statement. “It was part of a tightly controlled ritual, likely reserved for a select few, reinforcing the social hierarchy.”

A team of researchers from multiple institutions published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences detailing their examination of the mysteries behind caves found at an elevation of 10,000 feet in the Peruvian mountains. These areas were once controlled by the Chavin Phenomenon, a group that dominated the terrain 2,000 years before the Inca empire controlled the Andes.

The Chavin people were known for agricultural innovation in the first millennium B.C., but the society’s elite class may have also been innovating in the hallucinogenics space. In the study, the team showed that these 23 tubes carved from hollow bones are the earliest known direct evidence of psychoactive plant use in the Andes. They found the tubes in monumental stone structures at the prehistoric Chavin de Huantar ceremonial site, and claim that the objects demonstrate that “even in their early stages, socio-politically complex societies incorporated psychoactive plants into ritual activity.”

A range of chemical and microscopic tests of the tubes showed traces of nicotine (from wild relatives of tobacco) and vilca bean residue, which is a hallucinogen related to DMT. The tubes were in private chambers within the massive stone structure—rooms that could only hold a handful of people at one time, giving a cloak of secrecy to the space. The study noted that “evidence argues that ritual activity often included inducement of altered mental states.”

More:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a64703825/ancient-psychedelic-paraphernalia/

[cynical_idealist]

1. the poor folks rolled up leaves

so no evidence