Cave painting suggests indigenous Californians got high on ‘trance flower,’ study says

The “first clear evidence” that Native Americans consumed hallucinogenic plants at rock art sites has been found at the Pinwheel Cave in Southern California, according to new research.

And the depictions appear to be a group effort.

Researchers cited cave paintings as a sign that indigenous Californians took hallucinogenic plants at the Pinwheel Cave, according to a study published Nov. 23 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

An image of a pinwheel is believed to represent the Datura wrightii, or datura flower, a plant species native to California known for its psychoactive qualities.

The findings show “the first clear evidence for the ingestion of hallucinogens at a rock art site, in this case, from Pinwheel Cave, California,” researchers wrote.

The people who drew the rock art most likely weren’t high at the time “because of the debilitating effects of Datura,” lead researcher David Robinson told Live Science. The paintings were likely “setting the scene” and helping people “understand the flower’s power,” Robinson said.

The pinwheel drawing is believed to represent “the opening Datura flower,” researchers said. The team found quids — plants that are usually chewed — in the cave ceilings. Using a scanning electron microscope, the quids were confirmed to be Datura and researchers said they were likely chewed in the cave under the paintings.

“Each quid appears therefore to have been a single ’dose,’ inserted into the mouth and chewed/sucked in order to extract the hallucinogenic alkaloids,” researchers wrote. “This likely took place in the cave, after which the quids were inserted into the cavities above.”

Robinson told CNN that the caves holding the rock art are believed by some researchers to have been “owned” by shamans who would visit the caves and depict the visions seen during their drug trances.

“The idea (is) that a male shaman goes off to a hidden space and takes his hallucinogen at his vision quest site and he reproduces his visions on the rock,” Robinson told the publication.

But the majority of rock art sites, however, took place where people lived, which the study says suggests “the ingestion of the Datura therefore did not preclude the use of the site for other activities, showing that the site was not one of shamanic exclusion.”

Robinson told CNN it appears that the rock art went just beyond one person’s “vision quest” — with evidence multiple people contributed to the depictions.

“It’s a form of visual communication within indigenous society that is for everyone’s benefit,” he said. “That’s the main thing this research is showing. It’s not about an individual’s cognitive experience.“

This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 11:35 AM with the headline "Cave painting suggests indigenous Californians got high on ‘trance flower,’ study says."