Prehistoric peyote use: alkaloid analysis and radiocarbon dating of archaeological specimens of Lophophora from Texas.
Journal of ethnopharmacology October 3, 2005 Hesham R El-Seedi, Peter A G M De Smet, Olof Beck et al. 162 citations
Two dried peyote buttons from the Witte Museum in San Antonio were radiocarbon dated and chemically analyzed. The calibrated radiocarbon age of the samples corresponds to 3780-3660 BC. Alkaloid extraction yielded about 2% alkaloids, and mescaline was identified in both samples using thin-layer chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. No other peyote alkaloids were found. These are the oldest plant drugs ever to yield a major bioactive compound upon chemical analysis. The identification of mescaline suggests that native North Americans recognized the psychotropic properties of peyote as long as 5700 years ago.