Peyote Alkaloids: Identification in a Prehistoric Specimen of Lophophora from Coahuila, Mexico
Science March 31, 1978 Jan G. Bruhn, J.‐e. Lindgren, Bo Holmstedt et al. 23 citations
Alkaloid extracts from a prehistoric specimen of the peyote cactus (Lophophora), found in a burial cave in west central Coahuila, Mexico, contain mescaline, anhalonine, lophophorine, pellotine, and anhalonidine. Radiocarbon dating places the specimen between A.D. 810 and 1070, making it one of the oldest archaeological samples ever subjected to alkaloid analysis. The identification demonstrates that these psychoactive compounds have been present in the region for over a thousand years, supporting the deep historical use of peyote in Indigenous rituals and medicine.