The construction of a ballcourt in the ancient Maya city of Yaxnohcah was probably consecrated with a ritual involving chilli peppers and hallucinogenic morning glory seeds, new research has revealed. Despite decomposing centuries ago, this ceremonial offering has been identified within a layer of sediment beneath the court using environmental DNA analysis.
As in modern Western culture, ball games were a big deal in the Maya realm, and arenas were often built close to the most important temples. Games like pok-a-tok, in which players attempted to get a ball through a stone hoop, and pelota – which is still played by Indigenous groups in Mexico and Central America today – were not only recreational, but also politically and spiritually significant.
While excavating Yaxnohcah, archaeologists came across a platform that was originally used as a base for domestic structures before later being converted into a ballcourt. Beneath the platform, the researchers discovered traces of genetic material belonging to four medicinal plants, which were probably buried in order to bless the playing field.
Ballcourts feature prominently at ancient Maya sites.
Image credit: Chris Carpineti
“When [the ancient Maya] erected a new building, they asked the goodwill of the gods to protect the people inhabiting it,” explained study author Professor David Lentz in a statement. “Some people call it an ‘ensouling ritual,’ to get a blessing from and appease the gods,” he says, although others refer to the practice as a “fix earth” ritual.
“The nearest analogy today might be like christening a new ship,” added Lentz.
And while plants were often included in these sacrificial offerings, finding such a bundle has previously proved impossible as the material itself has long since rotted away. However, using special probes that are particularly sensitive to local species, the study authors were able to detect fragments of DNA belonging to four plants in the surrounding sediment.
Of these, the most intriguing is a type of morning glory known locally as xtabentun, the seeds of which contain psychedelic compounds with a similar structure to LSD. Today, honey collected from bees that feed on xtabentun pollen is used to brew mead in southern Mexico, while ancient Aztec priests ingested the plant – which they called coaxihuitl, meaning “snake plant” – to commune with the gods.
Written sources suggest that the plant was probably utilized by the ancient Maya “for ritual intoxication and divination”, although until now, no archaeological evidence for the use of xtabentun had ever been found within a Maya context.
Chilli pepper DNA was also detected, suggesting that this plant – which was used medicinally and for “shamanic divination” – was present in the ceremonial bundle. Far from a mere spice, chillis are considered highly curative within Maya tradition, and continue to be used as treatments for “tuberculosis, delayed parturition, diarrhea, blood in the stool or urine, earache, hemorrhoids, skin sores, arthritis, and asthma,” the authors explain.
Within their environmental DNA sample, the researchers also identified a type of medicinal lancewood and the leaves of a tree known as jool, the latter of which may have been used to wrap the ceremonial bundle.
“Because of its hallucinogenic properties, the xtabentun find suggests that the purpose of this unusual collection may have been connected with divination,” write the study authors.
“An even stronger possibility, however, was that this was part of an ensouling or fix earth ritual designed to propitiate the gods in a way that would ensure their blessings in subsequent activities associated with the newly constructed ceremonial ballcourt space,” they add.
The study is published in the journal PLOS ONE.
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