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Californian natives gathered in a cave – under a painting of a hallucinogenic plant – to get high about five centuries ago, a study concluded.
Researchers from the United Kingdom and the United States found that a spiral art form smeared on a cave wall south of Bakersfield resembled the heady flower known as “sacred datura”.
Additionally, they found remnants of the flower fibers that had been chewed and embedded in the cave ceiling.
The discovery challenges a long-debated theory – the “altered states of consciousness” model – that rock art creators may have in a trance state while painting.
Instead of being an attempt to capture visual phenomena observed under the influence of the plant in painting, the art represented the flower itself, the team said.
This image of the plant may therefore have served to convey knowledge of the plant in preparation for common hallucinogenic experiences.
Californian natives gathered in a cave – under a painting of a hallucinogenic plant, pictured – to get high about five centuries ago, a study concluded
“Proponents of the altered states of consciousness model have claimed that hallucinogens influenced the prehistoric creation of images in caves and rock shelters,” the researchers explained in their paper.
“However, no clear evidence remains for the preparation and consumption of hallucinogenic substances directly associated with any rock art site in the world.”
In their study, archaeologist David Robinson of the University of Central Lancashire and colleagues analyzed fibrous lumps called quids that were found embedded in the ceiling of California’s Pinwheel Cave.
The site is named after a red pinwheel-like design painted on the cave wall – which the team believes may represent Datura wrightii, a flower species known to have hallucinogenic properties that native Californians used to induce trance states.
The team used a variety of techniques to analyze the liquids and determine their chemical composition and probable origin.
Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry confirmed that the quids contained the hallucinogenic alkaloids atropine and scopolamine while scanning electron microscopy revealed that most of the fibers came from Datura wrightii.
Further analysis suggested that the liquids had been chewed and then probably consumed in the cave below where the paintings lie.
The researchers also found evidence of other common activities in the cave, most notably bullet points and arrow rectifiers that are indicative of weapon manufacturing and retooling in preparation for hunting.
Researchers from the UK and the US found that a spiral art form (left) smeared on a cave wall south of Bakersfield resembled the intoxicating flower known as ‘sacra datura’ (right).
In their study, archaeologist David Robinson of the University of Central Lancashire and colleagues analyzed fibrous lumps called quids that were found embedded in the ceiling of California’s Pinwheel Cave, as pictured.
Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry confirmed that the quids contained the hallucinogenic alkaloids atropine and scopolamine while scanning electron microscope imaging (pictured) revealed that most of the fibers came from Datura wrightii
We present the first clear evidence of hallucinogenic ingestion at a rock art site, in this case, from Pinwheel Cave, California, ”the researchers concluded.
“The liquids in the cave ceiling are proven to be Datura wrightii, an entheogen native to California,” they added.
This, they said, indicates that “rather than illustrating the visual phenomena caused by Datura, the cave paintings probably represent the plant and its pollinator.”
The full results of the study were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The researchers also found evidence of other common activities in the cave, most notably, bullet points (left) and arrow rectifiers (right) that are indicative of weapon manufacturing and retooling in preparation for hunting.
In the photo, the Girandola cave. The site is named after a red pinwheel-like design painted on the cave wall – which the team believes may represent Datura wrightii, a flower species known to have hallucinogenic properties that native Californians used to induce trance states.
In their study, archaeologist David Robinson of the University of Central Lancashire and colleagues analyzed fibrous lumps called quids that were found embedded in the ceiling of California’s Pinwheel Cave.
CAVE ART: 40,000 YEAR OLD WORKS HAVE BEEN UNCOVERED
The most famous rock art is found in Spain and France, but it exists all over the world.
The famous rock art of the Upper Paleolithic in Europe dates back to about 21,000 years ago.
In recent years, scholars have recorded rock art found in Indonesia which is believed to be around 40,000 years old, predating the more popular European rock art.
The author of the new report, Shigeru Miyagawa, explained in the analysis the pervasiveness of cave drawings.
He said: ‘Rock art is everywhere. Every major continent inhabited by homo sapiens has rock art.
“You find it in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, everywhere, just like human language.”
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