The use of psychoactive plants by ancient indigenous populations of the North Andes

Abstract

This investigation focuses on the North Andes and includes discussion of monumental stone sculpture in the environs of San Agustín, Colombia, as well as Muisca, Quimbaya, and Darién (Sinú) goldworking traditions. Through formal and iconographic analyses of ceremonial paraphernalia, this paper shows that the primary ideologies of the cultures of this region involved the use of several psychoactive plants.