How psychoactive plants helped build an ancient empire

A new investigation at a high‑Andean temple reveals that the distant ancestors of the Inca wielded psychoactive plants as a political tool.

Archaeologists have uncovered bone tubes still coated with traces of mind‑altering snuff, showing that Chavín lords used controlled visions to cement their rule almost three millennia ago.

The discovery comes from a project led by researchers at the University of Florida, Stanford University, and partner institutions across South America.

The experts analyzed artifacts from Chavín de Huántar, a vast ceremonial center that sits 10,000 feet above sea level in the Peruvian Andes.

Ancient use of psychoactive plants

Inside narrow passageways and hidden rooms, the team found small hollow bones carved into elegant inhalation tubes.

Chemical testing detected nicotine from wild tobacco relatives and residue from vilca beans, whose potent compounds are related to DMT.

Microscopic work confirmed plant particles embedded in the ancient surfaces. The date of the deposits makes this the oldest direct evidence for psychoactive plant use yet known in the high Andes.

Rituals shaped social order

The placement of the tubes mattered. They were sealed within private chambers that could hold only a handful of people. That setting implies exclusive ceremonies, not widespread communal feasts.

The evidence matches a broader pattern of Chavín architecture, which funnels visitors through labyrinths toward dimly lit sanctuaries where sights, sounds, and fragrances overwhelm the senses.

“Taking psychoactives was not just about seeing visions. It was part of a tightly controlled ritual, likely reserved for a select few, reinforcing the social hierarchy,” said Daniel Contreras, an anthropological archaeologist at the University of Florida and a co‑author of the study.

Chavín rituals meant to stun

Stone corridors at Chavín already distort light and echo footsteps. Researchers have also recovered giant trumpets fashioned from imported conch shells.

The deep blasts of those horns, amplified by the tunnels, would have rattled bone. Add intense hallucinations, and followers might have felt a raw presence of gods or spirits.

“The supernatural world isn’t necessarily friendly, but it’s powerful,” Contreras said. “These rituals, often enhanced by psychoactives, were compelling, transformative experiences that reinforced belief systems and social structures.”

By staging such events, leaders wrapped their authority in cosmic mystery. Participants emerged convinced that rank and building labor served a higher design.

Craftspeople who carved the monumental granite slabs and farmers who fed the workforce likely saw themselves as part of a living myth, not as servants under duress.

Belief used for power

“One of the ways that inequality was justified or naturalized was through ideology – through the creation of impressive ceremonial experiences that made people believe this whole project was a good idea,” Contreras said.

The snuff tubes thus fit a larger strategy. Earlier Andean settlements show few signs of strict hierarchy. By Chavín times, around 800 BCE, society had acquired priests, skilled artisans, and regional trade routes.

Control over sacred knowledge, including plant lore, helped elites turn soft power into hard architecture and coordinated labor.

Psychoactive plant mixture

Vilca beans grow in lowland forests far from Chavín’s icy heights. Their presence points to long‑distance exchange networks and to careful botanical skill.

When roasted, mixed with lime, and inhaled, the powder produces vivid visions, rapid heartbeat, and disorientation.

Wild tobaccos add nicotine’s stimulant rush and sharp aroma. Combined, these plants could propel users into what seemed another realm.

Bringing invisible details to light

Contreras has worked at the site for nearly 30 years in a project directed by Stanford archaeologist John Rick.

Their excavations have mapped hidden galleries, sculpted stone icons, and water channels that once gurgled beneath temple floors. The new chemical analyses bring invisible details to light, showing not only what people did but also what they felt.

“It’s exciting that ongoing excavations can be combined with cutting‑edge archaeological science techniques to get us closer to understanding what it was like to live at this site,” Contreras said.

From vision to empire

The Chavín phenomenon spread a shared artistic style and worldview up and down the Peruvian coast and sierra. Later Andean states inherited its taste for grand plazas, stone imagery, and elite ritual.

By demonstrating the intentional use of psychoactive plants in tightly managed settings, the study bridges the gap between small egalitarian hamlets and the vast empires that eventually ruled the Cordillera.

A modern glimpse of ancient minds

Today, visitors to Chavín de Huántar walk through restored corridors where carved fangs and staring eyes still pierce the dim light.

Knowing that select priests once knelt here, inhaled potent smoke, and proclaimed cosmic truths changes how we read those walls.

The bone tubes, simple yet sophisticated, remind us that chemistry, belief, and social order have long been intertwined. In the high Andes, altered consciousness was more than a personal journey – it was statecraft written in breath and stone.

The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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