Archaeologists studying the ruins of an Ancient Mayan city of Yaxnohcah, on the Yucatán Peninsula in southeastern Mexico, found evidence of at least four psychedelic or medicinal plants that were used in a ritual some 2,000 years ago during the Late Preclassic period.

It’s well known that psychedelic plants and fungi played a significant role in Mayan religion and culture as a whole, and researchers are narrowing down which species were used based on archaeological evidence. 

According to a study published April 26 in the journal PLOS One, Mayans at Yaxnohcah participated in a ritual at a ballcourt using four or more plants. After conducting a DNA analysis of soil samples from a spot on an elevated platform supporting a ballcourt, researchers identified several plants, the Smithsonian Magazine reports. These include a hallucinogenic flower known as xtabentun (Ipomoea corymbosa), as well as lancewood (Oxandra lanceolata), chile peppers (Capsicum sp.), and jool leaves (Hampea trilobata). All four have medicinal properties. The plants were likely wrapped up in a bundle tied or woven from jool leaves. All that is left is a dark patch showing particles of organic material.

It paints a colorful picture of Mayan religion. Xtabentun is a variety of the psychedelic morning glory flower, growing wild in the Yucatan. It had several uses in Mayan culture because it produces the pollen Yucatecan honey bees use to create the nectar needed to make traditional Mayan liquor, with a kick. Morning glory varieties have seeds that contain ergoline alkaloids such as the psychedelic ergonovine and ergine (LSA), chemically similar to the more potent LSD. Chile (or chili) peppers were used medicinally for a variety of purposes as well. Jool leaves are used to wrap up offerings and lancewood is used ceremonially as well.

Researchers believe the plants may have been used to “christen” or bless the new ballcourt.

“When they erected a new building, they asked the goodwill of the gods to protect the people inhabiting it,” lead author David Lentz, a biologist at the University of Cincinnati, told Smithsonian Magazine. “Some people call it an ‘ensouling ritual,’ to get a blessing from and appease the gods.”

Most of what is known about Maya rituals—including psychedelic plants and fungi—comes from modern ethnographic sources. For instance Mayans typically consumed k’aizalaj okox, otherwise known as teonanàcatl to the Aztecs which is a psychedelic mushroom Psilocybe mexicana, a variety of psilocybin that was locally sourced. They also knew well about the psychedelic properties of cacti, eating peyote (Lophophora sp.) and drinking balché, a mixture of honey and extracts of Lonchocarpus sp.

The Helena Complex and Ballcourt

The Maya played several ball games including Pok-a-Tok, which is a mix of soccer and basketball, and players try to hit a ball through a stone ring attached to the wall, Popular Science reports. Ballcourt games, in the Ancient Mayan culture, served as more than a sport and also served as a ritualistic activity.

From 2016 to 2022, excavations took place at the Helena ballcourt complex at Yaxnohcah, a 1-meter high stone and earthen platform measuring 68 meters by 147 meters. The Helena complex was linked by a causeway to a larger ceremonial complex located 900 meters to the southwest. Researchers believe the Helena platform was remodeled in 80 CE and a ballcourt was added during the Late Preclassic period that took place circa 400 BCE-200 CE. 

Researchers determined that four medicinal plants were used for either divination or as medicinal ritual.

“Whatever the intent of the Maya petitioners, it seems clear that some kind of divination or healing ritual took place at the base of the Helena ballcourt complex during the Late Preclassic period,” researchers wrote. “On a final note, as with the ceremonial plants found at Yaxnohcah, a greater understanding of the ritual and other sacred practices of ancient cultures can now come into clearer focus with the assistance of eDNA [environmental DNA] evidence, a methodology whose promise for archaeology is only beginning to be explored.”

Better DNA analysis makes it possible to understand the species that were used.

“We have known for years from ethnohistorical sources that the Maya also used perishable materials in these offerings,” said co-author Nicholas Dunning, a geoarchaeologist at the University of Cincinnati. “But it is almost impossible to find them archaeologically, which is what makes this discovery using eDNA so extraordinary.”

Many Preclassic Mayan cities are thought to collapse around 100 AD, which would have been only 20 years after the construction of the ballcourt at Yaxnohcah. However, Yaxnohcah is an anomaly and survived the collapse that affected most Mayan settlements during this period. eDNA data from the archaeological site is providing researchers with a wealth of information about what they consumed and why.

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An Ancient Egyptian vase with a face resembling the deity Bes was found with traces of a mixture containing several psychedelic compounds.

A recent preprint of a study intended for peer review, scientists discovered direct evidence inside a vase, indicating that the Ancient Egyptian cult of fertility god Bes used Syrian rue, Egyptian lotus, and royal jelly to trip on during religious ceremonies. Ptolemaic-era vases from the Tampa Museum of Art in Florida were analyzed.

Bes (and his female counterpart Beset) was worshiped during the New Kingdom, Ptolemaic period, and Imperial Rome as protector of households, i.e. women and children. Offerings to Bes usually were meant for fertility purposes. In the New Kingdom, Egyptians bore the image of Bes tattooed on their skin, and evidence suggests festivals in honor of Bes.

Researchers found traces of multiple plants and ingredients known for their hallucinogenic properties. “Our analyses revealed traces of Peganum harmala, Nimphaea nouchali var. caerulea, and a plant of the Cleome genus, all of which are traditionally proven to have psychotropic and medicinal properties,” researchers wrote. “Additionally, the identification of human fluids suggests their direct involvement in these rituals.”

Other Egyptian cults and Ancient Mayans also used Nimphaea nouchali var. Caerulea for psychedelic purposes. Researchers also detected cow DNA, and speculate the vases may have contained a fermented milk or some other cow product. Traces of royal honey or royal jelly was also found in the vase, known for both hallucinogenic effects and for increasing sexual vitality, (though the FDA warned about hawkers mixing it with Cialis). Some of royal jelly’s benefits, however, are backed by science.

“Furthermore, metabolomics and SR μ-FTIR analyses also revealed the presence of fermented fruit-based liquid and other ingredients such as honey or royal jelly,” researchers wrote. “The identification of specific chemical compounds, such as alkaloids and flavonoids, provides insight into the psychoactive and therapeutic uses of these in ancient ritual practices. This multidisciplinary study highlights the complexity of ancient cultures and their interactions with psychoactive, medicinal, and nutraceutical substances. These findings contribute to our understanding of ancient belief systems, cultural practices, and the utilization of natural resources, ultimately enhancing our knowledge of past societies and their connection to the natural world.”

Along with the Egyptian or blue lotus, the most popular psychoactive plants we know about among the Ancient Egyptians are opium, tobacco, and coca.

Ars Technica reports that ceramic vases and similar vessels depicting Bes have been found and now populate museums and private collections across the world. Researchers speculate they held beer or an elixir. He’s usually depicted with a bearded dwarf and sticking his tongue out, sometimes with a phallic symbol.

“The familiar image of Bes is a composite of anthropomorphic and theriomorphic elements, part dwarfish, part feline,” the report reads. “He emerged from the magical realm of the world of demons as a guardian figure, and gradually seems to have obtained a more numinous status until, in the Roman Imperial age, he sporadically acquired divine worship. In terms of his functions, Bes provided protection from danger, while simultaneously averting harm, and being able with his power to prevent evil. In critical circumstances, he was also placating in nature as told in the well-known Myth of the Solar Eye, when he stopped the wrath of bloodthirsty goddess Hathor serving her an alcoholic beverage, spiked with a plant-based drug, disguised as blood to a deep forgetting sleep on her.”

Chambers painted with the image of Bes were built at the site of Saqqara near the Egyptian capital Memphis, south of Cairo, but little is understood about the religion specifics.

Expanding the sampling chemical study to other examples of similar times would show a clearer picture, researchers said.

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