Ancient “trophy head” shows child victim consumed psychedelic San Pedro in Peru

A child in Peru was sacrificed thousands of years ago as part of an ancient ritual, with the head chopped at the neck and made into a kind of trophy. A recent analysis of a single hair taken from the mummy’s skull reveals that the child consumed a psychoactive cactus before execution.

Ancient Two of the trophy heads, one of a woman and one of a child. Credit: D. Socha / Journal of Archaeological Science, CC BY-NC-ND

The child’s preserved head was one of 22 human remains -found in the Yauca Valley, Cahuachi, and Estaqueria in Peru- ᴀssociated with the ancient Nazca society examined in a new study; All of these people lived during the pre-Hispanic period (3500 BCE to 476 CE).

The child tested positive for a high amount of “mescaline,” a hallucinogen caused by excessive San Pedro Cactus use.

The same study discovered ayahuasca use among other mummified individuals from the Early Nazca Period (100 BCE to 450 CE), providing the first archaeological evidence for the consumption of these two psychedelic plants.

Ancient Credit: D. Socha / Journal of Archaeological Science, CC BY-NC-ND

“The trophy head is the first case of the consumption of San Pedro by an individual living on the southern Peruvian coast,” study lead author Dagmara Socha, a doctoral candidate in the Center for Andean Studies at the University of Warsaw in Poland, told Live Science.

“It’s also the first evidence that some of the victims who were made into trophy heads were given stimulants before they died.”

“The results of the study support the idea that some of the trophy heads dated to the Early Nazca Period could have been obtained from ritually sacrificed victims, rather than during warfare,” the study reads.

The study also examined the hair of two male trophy skulls, none containing any drug compounds. They believe this could be due to “different social origins of the victims” or other simple factors such as hair structure or preservation.

The finding has been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

More information: Dagmara M. Socha, Marzena Sykutera, Giuseppe Orefici. (2022). Use of psychoactive and stimulant plants on the south coast of Peru from the Early Intermediate to Late Intermediate Period, Journal of Archaeological Science, 148, 105688,

Related Posts

300,000-year-old wooden tools found in China reveal early humans’ plant-based diet and cognitive abilities in East Asia

300,000-year-old wooden tools found in China reveal early humans’ plant-based diet and cognitive abilities in East Asia

An important cache of 35 wooden tools, dated at an estimated 300,000 years ago, has been unearthed at the Gantangqing site in Yunnan Province, southwest China. This…

Lost medieval town of Hamarkaupangen rediscovered in Norway after years of searching

Lost medieval town of Hamarkaupangen rediscovered in Norway after years of searching

After searching and speculating for nearly a decade, archaeologists from the Norwegian Insтιтute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) have confirmed they found the missing medieval town of…

Easter Island was not isolated: new study reveals Rapa Nui’s role in Polynesian culture

Easter Island was not isolated: new study reveals Rapa Nui’s role in Polynesian culture

Easter Island (Rapa Nui) has for decades been characterized as one of Polynesian culture’s most isolated and remote outposts, where the giant moai statues are located and…

Prehistoric arrowhead embedded in human rib reveals ancient violence in the Pyrenees over 4,000 years ago

Prehistoric arrowhead embedded in human rib reveals ancient violence in the Pyrenees over 4,000 years ago

A remarkable case of ancient violence has been discovered in a prehistoric burial site at 1,800 meters above sea level in the Catalan Pyrenees. Flint arrowhead embedded…

Ancient DNA challenges 65,000-year timeline for human arrival in Australia, but experts remain divided

Ancient DNA challenges 65,000-year timeline for human arrival in Australia, but experts remain divided

A new study published in the journal Archaeology in Oceania has reopened a long-standing debate about when people migrated to Australia, suggesting a later arrival that overturns…

Lighthouse of Alexandria rises again as 22 mᴀssive blocks resurface from the seafloor after 2,000 years

Lighthouse of Alexandria rises again as 22 mᴀssive blocks resurface from the seafloor after 2,000 years

After centuries underwater, 22 huge stone blocks of the ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, have been recovered from the…