Datura quids at Pinwheel Cave, California, provide unambiguous confirmation of the ingestion of hallucinogens at a rock art site

David W. Robinson; Kelly Brown; Moira McMenemy; Lynn Dennany; Matthew J. Baker; Pamela Allan; Caroline Cartwright; Julienne Bernard; Fraser Sturt; Elena Kotoula; Christopher Jazwa; Kristina M. Gill; Patrick Randolph-Quinney; Thomas Ash; Clare Bedford; Devlin Gandy; Matthew Armstrong; James Miles; David Haviland

doi:10.1073/pnas.2014529117

Datura quids at Pinwheel Cave, California, provide unambiguous confirmation of the ingestion of hallucinogens at a rock art site

David W. Robinson, Kelly Brown, Moira McMenemy, Lynn Dennany, Matthew J. Baker, Pamela Allan, Caroline Cartwright, Julienne Bernard, Fraser Sturt, Elena Kotoula, Christopher Jazwa, Kristina M. Gill, Patrick Randolph-Quinney, Thomas Ash, Clare Bedford, Devlin Gandy, Matthew Armstrong, James Miles, David Haviland

Pure And Applied Chemistry

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Abstract

Significance Proponents of the altered states of consciousness (ASC) model have argued that hallucinogens have influenced the prehistoric making of images in caves and rock shelters. However, the lack of direct evidence for the consumption of hallucinogens at any global rock art site has undermined the ASC model. We present the first clear evidence for the ingestion of hallucinogens at a rock art site, in this case, from Pinwheel Cave, California. Quids in the cave ceiling are shown to be Datura wrightii , a Native Californian entheogen, indicating that, rather than illustrating visual phenomena caused by the Datura , the rock paintings instead likely represent the plant and its pollinator, calling into question long-held assumptions about rock art and the ASC model.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	31026-31037
Number of pages	12
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Volume	117
Issue number	49
Early online date	23 Nov 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2014529117
Publication status	Published - 8 Dec 2020

Keywords

chemistry
social science
anthropology
rock art
Datura
quids
Native California
hallucinogens

Access to Document

10.1073/pnas.2014529117Licence: CC BY 4.0

Robinson-etal-PNAS-2020-Datura-quids-at-Pinwheel-Cave-California-provide-unambiguous-confirmation-of-the-ingestionFinal published version, 3.94 MBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Data for “Datura quids at Pinwheel Cave, California, provide unambiguous confirmation of the ingestion of hallucinogens at a rock art site”
Brown, K. (Creator), McMenemy, M. (Contributor), Baker, M. (Contributor), Allan, P. (Creator), Dennany, L. (Creator) & Robinson, D. (Creator), University of Strathclyde, 5 Nov 2020
DOI: 10.15129/6d5b0425-1204-4b4f-b33d-201774c45bbc
Dataset
Investigating the Viability of Electrochemiluminescence for Archaeological Material Analysis: A Pilot Study
Brown, K. (Creator), Blake, R. (Creator), Robinson, D. (Creator) & Dennany, L. (Creator), University of Strathclyde, 5 May 2023
DOI: 10.15129/05dbaf7f-4f75-475c-aa8b-0c698dc8f498
Dataset

Cite this

Robinson, D. W., Brown, K., McMenemy, M., Dennany, L., Baker, M. J., Allan, P., Cartwright, C., Bernard, J., Sturt, F., Kotoula, E., Jazwa, C., Gill, K. M., Randolph-Quinney, P., Ash, T., Bedford, C., Gandy, D., Armstrong, M., Miles, J., & Haviland, D. (2020). Datura quids at Pinwheel Cave, California, provide unambiguous confirmation of the ingestion of hallucinogens at a rock art site. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 117(49), 31026-31037. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2014529117

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title = "Datura quids at Pinwheel Cave, California, provide unambiguous confirmation of the ingestion of hallucinogens at a rock art site",

abstract = "Significance Proponents of the altered states of consciousness (ASC) model have argued that hallucinogens have influenced the prehistoric making of images in caves and rock shelters. However, the lack of direct evidence for the consumption of hallucinogens at any global rock art site has undermined the ASC model. We present the first clear evidence for the ingestion of hallucinogens at a rock art site, in this case, from Pinwheel Cave, California. Quids in the cave ceiling are shown to be Datura wrightii , a Native Californian entheogen, indicating that, rather than illustrating visual phenomena caused by the Datura , the rock paintings instead likely represent the plant and its pollinator, calling into question long-held assumptions about rock art and the ASC model.",

keywords = "chemistry, social science, anthropology, rock art, Datura, quids, Native California, hallucinogens",

author = "Robinson, {David W.} and Kelly Brown and Moira McMenemy and Lynn Dennany and Baker, {Matthew J.} and Pamela Allan and Caroline Cartwright and Julienne Bernard and Fraser Sturt and Elena Kotoula and Christopher Jazwa and Gill, {Kristina M.} and Patrick Randolph-Quinney and Thomas Ash and Clare Bedford and Devlin Gandy and Matthew Armstrong and James Miles and David Haviland",

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month = dec,

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doi = "10.1073/pnas.2014529117",

language = "English",

volume = "117",

pages = "31026--31037",

journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ",

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Robinson, DW, Brown, K , McMenemy, M , Dennany, L, Baker, MJ, Allan, P, Cartwright, C, Bernard, J, Sturt, F, Kotoula, E, Jazwa, C, Gill, KM, Randolph-Quinney, P, Ash, T, Bedford, C, Gandy, D, Armstrong, M, Miles, J & Haviland, D 2020, 'Datura quids at Pinwheel Cave, California, provide unambiguous confirmation of the ingestion of hallucinogens at a rock art site', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , vol. 117, no. 49, pp. 31026-31037. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2014529117

TY - JOUR

T1 - Datura quids at Pinwheel Cave, California, provide unambiguous confirmation of the ingestion of hallucinogens at a rock art site

AU - Robinson, David W.

AU - Brown, Kelly

AU - McMenemy, Moira

AU - Dennany, Lynn

AU - Baker, Matthew J.

AU - Allan, Pamela

AU - Cartwright, Caroline

AU - Bernard, Julienne

AU - Sturt, Fraser

AU - Kotoula, Elena

AU - Jazwa, Christopher

AU - Gill, Kristina M.

AU - Randolph-Quinney, Patrick

AU - Ash, Thomas

AU - Bedford, Clare

AU - Gandy, Devlin

AU - Armstrong, Matthew

AU - Miles, James

AU - Haviland, David

PY - 2020/12/8

Y1 - 2020/12/8

N2 - Significance Proponents of the altered states of consciousness (ASC) model have argued that hallucinogens have influenced the prehistoric making of images in caves and rock shelters. However, the lack of direct evidence for the consumption of hallucinogens at any global rock art site has undermined the ASC model. We present the first clear evidence for the ingestion of hallucinogens at a rock art site, in this case, from Pinwheel Cave, California. Quids in the cave ceiling are shown to be Datura wrightii , a Native Californian entheogen, indicating that, rather than illustrating visual phenomena caused by the Datura , the rock paintings instead likely represent the plant and its pollinator, calling into question long-held assumptions about rock art and the ASC model.

AB - Significance Proponents of the altered states of consciousness (ASC) model have argued that hallucinogens have influenced the prehistoric making of images in caves and rock shelters. However, the lack of direct evidence for the consumption of hallucinogens at any global rock art site has undermined the ASC model. We present the first clear evidence for the ingestion of hallucinogens at a rock art site, in this case, from Pinwheel Cave, California. Quids in the cave ceiling are shown to be Datura wrightii , a Native Californian entheogen, indicating that, rather than illustrating visual phenomena caused by the Datura , the rock paintings instead likely represent the plant and its pollinator, calling into question long-held assumptions about rock art and the ASC model.

KW - chemistry

KW - social science

KW - anthropology

KW - rock art

KW - Datura

KW - quids

KW - Native California

KW - hallucinogens

U2 - 10.1073/pnas.2014529117

DO - 10.1073/pnas.2014529117

M3 - Article

SN - 1091-6490

VL - 117

SP - 31026

EP - 31037

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

IS - 49

ER -

Datura quids at Pinwheel Cave, California, provide unambiguous confirmation of the ingestion of hallucinogens at a rock art site

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Data for “Datura quids at Pinwheel Cave, California, provide unambiguous confirmation of the ingestion of hallucinogens at a rock art site”

Investigating the Viability of Electrochemiluminescence for Archaeological Material Analysis: A Pilot Study

Cite this