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. 2024 Apr 26;19(4):e0301497.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301497. eCollection 2024.

Psychoactive and other ceremonial plants from a 2,000-year-old Maya ritual deposit at Yaxnohcah, Mexico

David L Lentz  1 , Trinity L Hamilton  2 , Stephanie A Meyers  1 , Nicholas P Dunning  3 , Kathryn Reese-Taylor  4 , Armando Anaya Hernández  5 , Debra S Walker  6 , Eric J Tepe  1 , Atasta Flores Esquivel  7 , Alison A Weiss  8
Affiliations

Psychoactive and other ceremonial plants from a 2,000-year-old Maya ritual deposit at Yaxnohcah, Mexico

David L Lentz et al. PLoS One. .

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.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Map of Yaxnohcah showing the juxtaposition of the Helena complex to the Brisa complex and other ceremonial complexes within the site core.
The inset in the lower right corner illustrates the location of Yaxnohcah within its regional context. Image created by David Lentz using Photoshop CS6, Vers. 13.0.1 × 64 (https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html). Base map reprinted from [1] under a CC BY license, with permission from David L. Lentz, original copyright 2022).
Fig 2
Fig 2. Map of the Helena complex showing the location of the excavation (Operation 18) in relationship to the structures of the ballcourt (Structures H-4 through H-7).
H-7 is the westernmost lateral structure, or banquette, of the ballcourt. Image created by Atasta Flores Esquivel and David Lentz using Photoshop CS6, Vers. 13.0.1 × 64 (https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html). Base map reprinted from [14] under a CC BY license, with permission from Verónica A. Vázquez López, original copyright 2022).
Fig 3
Fig 3. Photograph of the north profile of Operation 18.
The location of the ceremonial deposit discussed in the text is encircled in red. Image created by Atasta Flores Esquivel and David Lentz. Reprinted from [17] under a CC BY license, with permission from Verónica A. Vázquez López, original copyright 2019).
Fig 4
Fig 4. Print of Ipomoea corymbosa from Edwards Botanical Register.
Reprinted from [43] under a CC BY license with permission from the Peter H. Raven Library, Missouri Botanical Garden, original copyright 1843.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lentz DL, Hamilton TL, Dunning NP, Jones JG, Reese-Taylor K, Anaya Hernández A, et al.. Paleoecological studies at the ancient Maya center of Yaxnohcah using analyses of pollen, environmental DNA, and plant macroremains. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 2022; 10:868033. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2022.868033 - DOI
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