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Entheogenic drugs and the archaeological record

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Title: Entheogenic drugs and the archaeological record  
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Subject: Archaeology, Religion and drugs, Striking platform, Transverse arrowhead, Chalcolithic
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Entheogenic drugs and the archaeological record


New World


Olmec entheogens

The Olmec (12,000 BCE to 400 BCE) lived in Central America and are largely viewed by many as the mother culture of Aztecs and Maya. The Olmecs left no written works on their belief structures, so many interpretations on Olmec beliefs are largely based on interpretations of murals and artifacts. Archaeologists are led to believe that the Olmecs used entheogens for three reasons:

  1. Burials of Bufo Toads with priests
  2. The use of entheogens in later Olmec-inspired cultures


The Maya (250 BCE to 900 CE) flourished in Central America and were prevalent even until the arrival of the Spanish. The Maya religious tradition is extremely complex and very well-developed. Unlike the Olmec, the Maya have religious texts that have survived to this day. The Maya religion displays characteristic Mesoamerican mythology, with a strong emphasis on an individual being a communicator between the physical world and the spiritual world. Mushroom stone effigies, dated to 1000 BCE, give evidence that mushrooms were at least revered in a religious way.


Quoting archaeologist Stephan F. de Borhegyi......


The most direct evidence of Maya entheogen use comes from modern descendents of the Maya who use entheogenic drugs today.



Native Americans of the southwest United States


Old World


During the Paleolithic, there is ample evidence of drug use as seen by preserved botanical remains and coprolites. Some scholars suggest that the Shanidar Cave (a Paleolithic site in Iraq) Flower Burial shows evidence of a shamanic death ritual, but these claims are still being debated. The most direct evidence we have from the Paleolithic in terms of art comes from Tassili, Algeria. From this region, there are several therianthropic images portraying the painter and the animals around him as one (an often cited effect of many hallucinatory drugs, Ego death). One image, in particular, shows a man who has formed into one common form with a mushroom.


World religions

There have been several reports stating that the Bible and the Vedas have several references to entheogenic drugs.

Manna and mushrooms

Some researchers speculate that Manna, the food that the Israeli tribes harvest, was actually an entheogenic drug. The Bible as quoted in Exodus 16:14 reads:


Some point to the similarities of psilocybe and the biblical description of manna as evidence.


In regard to the Vedas, the religious texts of the Hindu religion, there has been speculation on the nature of what Soma, the food of the gods, actually was. In the Vedas it states:


Amateur mycologist Robert Gordon Wasson suggested that soma is fly agaric, a mushroom commonly used by Siberian shamans, however, linguistic and ritual evidence has established that haoma was most likely a variant of Ephedra.


See also


  • Bierhorst, John. The Mythology of Mexico and Central America, William Morrow (1990). ISBN 0-688-11280-3.
  • Demarest, Arthur. Ancient Maya: The Rise and Fall of the Rainforest Civilization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
  • Dibble, Charles E., et al. (trans). "Florentine Codex: Book 11 - Earthly Things." The School of American Research. Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1963.
  • Furst, P. T. (with contributions from Wasson and others) 1972 Flesh of the Gods: The Ritual Use of Hallucinogens
  • Hofmann, Albert. "Teonanácatl and Ololiuqui, two ancient magic drugs of Mexico." UNODC Bulletin on Narcotics. Issue 1, pp. 3–14, 1971.
  • McKenna, Terence. Food of the Gods. (New York, Harper Collins) p. 84.
  • Wasson, R. G., S. Kramrisch, J. Ott and C. A. P. Ruck. (1986). Pesephone's Quest: Entheogens and the Origins of Religion. ISBN 0-300-05266-9
