Psychoactive and other ceremonial plants from a 2,000-year-old Maya ritual deposit at Yaxnohcah, Mexico.
David L Lentz, Trinity L Hamilton, Stephanie A Meyers, Nicholas P Dunning, Kathryn Reese-Taylor, Armando Anaya Hernández, Debra S Walker, Eric J Tepe, Atasta Flores Esquivel, Alison A Weiss
PloS one January 1, 2024 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301497 via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA ritual bundle buried beneath a Late Preclassic ballcourt at the Maya city of Yaxnohcah contained four medicinal and psychoactive plants, identified through environmental DNA analysis. The plants included xtabentun (Ipomoea corymbosa), a hallucinogen reported for the first time in Maya archaeology; chili pepper (Capsicum sp.), used in divination; jool (Hampea trilobata); and chilcahuite (Oxandra lanceolata), both linked to ceremonial artifact manufacture. The discovery provides direct evidence of ritual practices that have remained elusive, showing that ancient Maya ceremonies incorporated plants with medicinal and mind-altering properties.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Archaeological study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Ancient Maya ritual deposit at Yaxnohcah |
| Citations | 6 |
| Key finding | A ritual deposit beneath a Maya ballcourt contained four plants with medicinal and ceremonial uses, including the hallucinogen xtabentun, identified for the first time in Maya contexts via environmental DNA. |
Abstract
For millennia, healing and psychoactive plants have been part of the medicinal and ceremonial fabric of elaborate rituals and everyday religious practices throughout Mesoamerica. Despite the essential nature of these ritual practices to the societal framework of past cultures, a clear understanding of the ceremonial life of the ancient Maya remains stubbornly elusive. Here we record the discovery of a special ritual deposit, likely wrapped in a bundle, located beneath the end field of a Late Preclassic ballcourt in the Helena complex of the Maya city of Yaxnohcah. This discovery was made possible by the application of environmental DNA technology. Plants identified through this analytical process included Ipomoea corymbosa (xtabentun in Mayan), Capsicum sp. (chili pepper or ic in Mayan), Hampea trilobata (jool), and Oxandra lanceolata (chilcahuite). All four plants have recognized medicinal properties. Two of the plants, jool and chilcahuite, are involved in artifact manufacture that have ceremonial connections while chili peppers and xtabentun have been associated with divination rituals. Xtabentun (known to the Aztecs as ololiuhqui) produces highly efficacious hallucinogenic compounds and is reported here from Maya archaeological contexts for the first time.