Deep in the highlands of northwestern Argentina, archaeologists discovered something remarkably unusual: two small tubular pipes carved from feline bone, dating back more than 4,000 years.
They were found at Inca Cueva, in the Humahuaca region of Jujuy, and radiocarbon dating produced a date of approximately 2130 BC.
The discovery becomes even more remarkable when scientists examined material associated with the pipes.
Pipes made from feline bone
The two pipes were approximately 13 cm and 11.2 cm long and were made from feline bone.
Archaeological research identifies them as part of the early smoking equipment found at Inca Cueva.
The pipes came from Inca Cueva 7 (IC-c7) in the Puna of Jujuy, northwestern Argentina. The cave is at roughly 3,860 metres above sea level. They were recovered during excavations in 1972.
They were made from feline bone, identified in later archaeological literature as Felis concolor — the animal now generally called the puma/cougar (Puma concolor).
Interestingly, their appearance initially caused some confusion.
The excavator's early impression was that they might have been made from human long bones, but later detailed comparative examination subsequently identified them as feline bone.
They weren't just found on their own
This is one of the most interesting aspects. The pipes were found alongside a collection of other objects, including:
- Anadenanthera seeds
- Prosopis seeds
- gourds
- spiral baskets
- knotted bags
They were deposited on a straw floor inside the cave.
That combination is important because it makes the interpretation considerably stronger than simply finding two mysterious tubes and guessing what they were used for.
What was actually detected?
Archaeological literature specifically reports bufotenine in residues from the two Inca Cueva 7 bone pipes.
Bufotenine is a tryptamine alkaloid associated with Anadenanthera colubrina (cebil).
Radiocarbon testing produced a date of approximately 2130 BC, reported as 4080 ± 80 BP in the early archaeological literature. That puts the objects at more than 4,000 years old.
A 2024 archaeological review still cites the Inca Cueva 7 tubular pipes and the 2130 BC date when discussing the early history of smoking psychoactive plants in the Andes.
One particularly fascinating question
The puma bone itself may be significant.
We shouldn't claim that the choice of puma bone had a ritual meaning unless there's evidence demonstrating it.
But deliberately selecting an animal bone and transforming it into specialised smoking equipment suggests that the manufacture of the pipes wasn't accidental or improvised in the ordinary sense.
And then there's the combination of:
puma bone → specialised tubular pipes → psychoactive plant seeds → chemical alkaloid residue → 2130 BC
That's an unusually coherent archaeological package.
It means we aren't simply speculating that prehistoric people might have experimented with psychoactive plants. At this particular site, there is physical equipment, plant evidence and chemical evidence occurring together.
One caveat is important, though: we cannot reconstruct exactly how the pipes were used or what the experience meant to the people who used them.
"Psychedelic ritual" is a reasonable modern description of the evidence, but claims about visions, shamanism or communication with spirits go beyond what these two objects can prove.
The people who made them lived thousands of years before the rise of the Inca Empire.
So the name "Inca Cueva" shouldn't be taken to mean that the Inca themselves created the pipes — the archaeological material is far older than the Inca civilisation.
These pipes therefore provide a glimpse into practices taking place in the Andes during a period when much of the region was still occupied by hunter-gatherer and early food-producing communities.
What was being smoked?
This is where the discovery becomes particularly interesting. Analysis of residue from the pipes detected tryptamine alkaloids.
These compounds are associated with psychoactive plants, including species of Anadenanthera, a group of South American trees whose seeds have traditionally been used for their psychoactive properties.
The archaeological record from the region also provides evidence connecting Anadenanthera with these ancient smoking practices.
Rather than simply finding an unusual bone object and assuming it was a pipe, researchers therefore have chemical evidence suggesting that psychoactive plant material was actually involved.
Anadenanthera: The Ancient Plant Behind the Mystery of Vilca
For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples of South America have used plants for medicine, ritual and altered states of consciousness.
Among the most intriguing is Anadenanthera, a genus of trees whose seeds became associated with powerful ceremonial practices long before modern science began studying their chemistry.
The story of Anadenanthera raises an unusual question: how did ancient cultures discover the remarkable properties of these plants?
An ancient relationship
Anadenanthera trees are native to parts of South America, particularly regions of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru and surrounding areas.
Several species have been used traditionally, with Anadenanthera colubrina and Anadenanthera peregrina being particularly significant.
The seeds have been known by names including vilca, cebil and yopo, although these names can refer to different preparations or species depending on the region.
Archaeological evidence indicates that Anadenanthera-related practices are ancient. Remains and associated paraphernalia have been discovered at archaeological sites, providing evidence that psychoactive plants were incorporated into ritual life long before European contact.
The mysterious pipes of Jujuy
Some examples have been dated to around the second millennium BCE, making them potentially among the earliest evidence for sophisticated psychoactive plant practices in South America.
The discovery is fascinating because it demonstrates that people were experimenting with specialised equipment and prepared substances thousands of years ago.
What makes Anadenanthera unusual?
The seeds of some Anadenanthera species contain naturally occurring tryptamine alkaloids, including compounds such as bufotenine and, depending on the species and preparation, DMT and related substances.
These chemicals interact with the brain's serotonin system.
However, the chemistry is more complicated than the popular description of Anadenanthera as simply an ancient "DMT plant".
Different species contain different concentrations of compounds, and traditional preparations varied considerably. Archaeological identification can also be difficult because plant material rarely survives intact for thousands of years.
This is why claims about exactly what ancient people consumed should be treated carefully.
How did they discover Anadenanthera?
This may be the biggest mystery. Humans have experimented with plants throughout history. Some discoveries were probably accidental. Others may have resulted from generations of observation and accumulated traditional knowledge.
A plant could have been eaten, smoked, inhaled or prepared in another way before its effects became understood.
Once people recognised that a particular plant produced unusual experiences, knowledge could have been passed between generations.
Eventually, that knowledge could become part of a complex ritual system.
The existence of specialised pipes and other equipment suggests that at least some ancient communities had moved well beyond simple experimentation.
More than recreation
It is important not to impose modern recreational drug culture onto ancient societies.
For the people who used these plants, altered consciousness could have had entirely different meanings.
Such experiences may have likely been connected with healing, divination, communication with spirits, initiation ceremonies or religious beliefs.
The distinction between medicine, religion and altered consciousness was not necessarily the same as it is in modern Western society.
A shaman or ritual specialist entering an altered state may have been regarded not as someone taking a drug, but as someone performing an important social or spiritual function.
The archaeological trail
Anadenanthera is particularly interesting to archaeologists because the evidence comes from several directions.
There are the plants themselves, where preserved botanical material survives. There are also pipes, trays, snuffing implements and other objects that provide clues about how psychoactive substances were prepared and consumed.
In some cases, researchers can analyse microscopic residues or chemical traces remaining inside archaeological objects.
These techniques can potentially reveal what substances were used even when the original plant material has disappeared.
That means an ancient artefact can sometimes tell us something its makers never recorded in writing.
An ancient form of experimentation?
There is another intriguing possibility. The history of Anadenanthera demonstrates that ancient peoples possessed an enormous practical knowledge of their environment.
They had to know which plants were edible, which were poisonous, which could be used medicinally and which produced unusual effects.
That knowledge was accumulated without modern laboratories, chromatography or pharmacology.
It would be a mistake to assume that ancient people simply stumbled blindly through their environment.
Their knowledge of plants could be extraordinarily sophisticated.
Perhaps the more interesting question isn't "How did they discover psychoactive plants?"
Perhaps it is: "How much knowledge about plants did ancient cultures possess that has been lost?"
The unanswered questions
There is still much we don't know. Exactly how particular Anadenanthera preparations were made remains uncertain in many archaeological contexts.
We also cannot assume that every ancient pipe found in South America was used for the same substance.
Archaeological evidence can tell us that people possessed particular plants, equipment and traditions. It cannot always tell us exactly what an individual experienced.
Nevertheless, the evidence reveals something remarkable.
Thousands of years before modern pharmacology, people were deliberately exploring the biological effects of plants on the human mind.
Anadenanthera provides one of the clearest windows into that forgotten relationship between plants, chemistry, ritual and consciousness.
And perhaps the strangest part is that the trees themselves have been standing there all along.
The knowledge of what they could do may be ancient. The mystery of how that knowledge began is still with us.
More than just recreation?
It's impossible to know exactly what the experience meant to the people who used these pipes.
Modern descriptions of psychoactive substances can easily impose contemporary ideas onto ancient cultures. The substances may have been associated with rituals, communication with supernatural forces, social ceremonies or other practices that have little direct equivalent today.
What we can say is that humans in this part of the Andes were deliberately processing and consuming psychoactive plant substances thousands of years ago.
And they had developed specialised equipment for doing it.
An ancient tradition
The discovery isn't an isolated indication of psychoactive plant use in prehistoric South America. Other archaeological sites in the region have produced later smoking pipes and equipment associated with psychoactive plants.
At Huachichocana, also in Jujuy, archaeological material associated with smoking tryptamine-containing plants has been dated to around 1450 BC.
The evidence suggests that knowledge of psychoactive plants and methods of administering them formed part of a much older Andean tradition.
The Inca Cueva pipes push that evidence back to around 4,100 years ago.
What did they experience?
Perhaps the most fascinating question is one archaeology cannot completely answer. What did the person using one of these pipes believe was happening?
Were they seeking visions? Attempting to communicate with ancestors or supernatural beings? Participating in a communal ceremony? Treating illness? Or simply exploring the effects of a powerful plant?
We may never know. But the pipes demonstrate something important: people living in the Andes more than four millennia ago possessed detailed knowledge of psychoactive plants and had developed specialised tools for using them.
A pair of small pieces of feline bone therefore provides an extraordinary window into a world that existed long before written history.
The objects are tiny. The story behind them is anything but.
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