Psychoactive and other ceremonial plants from a 2,000-year-old Maya ritual deposit at Yaxnohcah, Mexico.
PloS one – January 01, 2024
Source: PubMed
Summary
A remarkable find in the ancient Maya city of Yaxnohcah reveals a ritual deposit beneath a Late Preclassic ballcourt, showcasing the importance of medicinal plants in their ceremonies. Utilizing environmental DNA technology, four key plants were identified: Ipomoea corymbosa (xtabentun), Capsicum sp. (chili pepper), Hampea trilobata (jool), and Oxandra lanceolata (chilcahuite). Notably, xtabentun, known for its hallucinogenic properties, marks its first appearance in Maya archaeological contexts. This discovery highlights the intricate relationship between these plants and Maya cultural practices.
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.