Archaeologists have uncovered 1,000-year-old cocaine in a cave in South America, as part of an ancient drug bundle.
The team of international researchers were hunting for traces of former settlements in Bolivia when they came across a burial site containing some interesting artefacts.
Among these were a bag made from three fox snouts, a crude tube used as a pipe for smoking and a number of psychotropic substances, including cocaine and possibly magic mushrooms.
“This is the largest number of psychoactive substances ever found in a single archaeological assemblage from South America,” announced Jose Capriles of Penn State University in a statement.
“We already knew that psychotropics were important in the spiritual and religious activities of the societies of the south-central Andes, but we did not know that these people were using so many different compounds and possibly combining them together,” added the assistant professor of anthropology.
Radiocarbon dating placed the items at around 1,000 years old, and samples from inside the bag revealed the presence of cocaine compounds, traces of DMT, and what appeared to be a substance found in psychedelic mushrooms.
"Shamans were ritual specialists who had knowledge of plants and how to use them as mechanisms to engage with supernatural beings, including venerated ancestors who were thought to exist in other realms," said Mr Capriles.
"It is possible that the shaman who owned this pouch consumed multiple different plants simultaneously to produce different effects or extend his or her hallucinations."
The team were particularly surprised to discover that none of the substances found in the “ritual bundle” came from the area in which they were found, suggesting special efforts were made to obtain them.
"None of the psychoactive compounds we found come from plants that grow in this area of the Andes, indicating either the presence of elaborate exchange networks or the movement of this individual across diverse environments to procure these special plants,” explained Mr Capriles.
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“This discovery reminds us that people in the past had extensive knowledge of these powerful plants and their potential uses, and they sought them out for their medicinal and psychoactive properties.”
The research, which was supported by a grant from the National Geographic Society, was published in the journal ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’ on May 6.
