Pinwheel Cave

400 years ago, visitors to this painted cave took hallucinogens

People at California’s Pinwheel Cave left evidence of their altered state literally stuffed into its walls—the first physical evidence for hallucinogenic consumption at a rock art site.

Research team member Jon Picciuolo documents quids (wads of chewed-up plant matter) that were stuffed centuries ago into crevasses in the walls of Pinwheel Cave in southern California. The painted pinwheel that gives the cave its name can be seen to the left.

Photograph by Devlin Gandy

Researchers have debated for decades over the relationship between hallucinogens and rock art. Ancient cultures around the world have left an intriguing legacy of abstract, even psychedelic-looking images on cliff faces and cave walls, but modern researchers argue over the motivation behind the creation of such artworks.

Until now there has been no physical evidence of the use of hallucinogens at rock art sites. But a surprising discovery at a site in southern California now provides proof that at least some people experienced the site in an altered state of consciousness centuries ago.

In a study published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an international research team reports that 400-year-old chewed-up wads of datura, a plant

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