A Nazca child's skeletal remains excavated in Peru by scientists indicate that the youngling was forced to eat a psychoactive cactus prior to his or her execution as part of an ancient ritual.
The discovery is according to a new study led by Poland-based researchers, who determined the victim was part of a child sacrifice ceremony during the time of the Nazca society that thrived from 100 BC to 800 AD.
The archaeological evidence of the consumed cactus was based on a hair strand sample of the Nazca child in the form of a trophy head.
The excavation also revealed the child was sacrificed along with a woman suffering the same fate.
In addition, the evidence suggested that the Nazca people, even before the pre-Hispanic era, have already access to psychoactive or stimulant plants.
The Nazca culture flourished in South Peru, beside the coast and in the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage and Yauca Valley.
The ancient South American society is known for the famous Nazca lines, geoglyphs outlined in the desert floor, as well as in the areas of pottery and textiles.
Like other ancient civilizations, the Nazca people also engaged in human sacrifices linked to their belief or religion.
Nazca Child Trophy Head
The archaeological research paper about the Nazca child will be published in the Journal of Archaeological Science in December 2022.
Still, its content is already available through the online scientific and medical publications site ScienceDirect.
The study's corresponding author, Dagmar Socha from the University of Warsaw's Centre for Andean Studies in Warsaw, Poland, and other researchers unraveled an incident that took place thousands of years ago in ancient Peru.
Nazca people sacrificed the said child, whose head was severed at the neck and made into a trophy, as part of the ancient ceremony.
The child's preserved head is only one of the many 22 human skeletal remains linked to the ancient Nazca society.
The human victims all lived in the same era and were buried near the southern Peru coast, where a long-running archaeological program called the Nazca Project started in 1982.
San Pedro Cactus
Socha and her team collected hair samples from other children and adult remains at the site.
Toxicological samples have shown the Nazca child had ingested plant called San Pedro cactus (Echinopsis pachanoi), which was intentionally taken due to its "strong hallucinogenic properties" and used by other indigenous civilizations in the America, Live Science reported.
Similar to the psychoactive cactus, other hallucinogenic plants like the plant-based psychedelic ayahuasca was utilized by ancient societies in the continent, including Colombia, Brazil, and Peru, as traditional medicines and during rituals, according to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation (ADF).
In April, Nature World News also covered a similar incident in ancient Peru where archaeologists found sacrificed Inca children with ritual drugs like cocaine and ayahuasca in their bodies.
These findings were published in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports in June 2022.
Related Article: Child Sacrifice Ritual: Remains of 76 Victims with their Hearts Removed Found in Peru