[Sacred psychoactive seeds and ritual sacrifices in the Moche culture]

Archaeological findings have confirmed the existence of representations of ritual human sacrifices on pottery belonging to the Moche culture (100-750 AD) in northern Peru; until recently these images were thought to be mythological narrations. We review the archaeological and ethno-historical data concerning Moche sacrifices and we attempt to identify the psychoactive seeds and plants used during such rites.

Ethno-historical data from different chronicles of the New World written in the 16th century state that hamala seeds (belonging to the species Nectandra) were used for their analgesic, sedative, narcotic and anticoagulating properties, and that chamico, or stramonium, had an intoxicating effect on those who took it. There were two kinds of Moche rituals, that is, sacrifices as offerings to divinities and as exemplary punishments. Methods of sacrifice included slitting victims' throats, dismembering them and throwing them off mountains. The sacrifices of the Moche were part of a complex and elaborate ritual which consisted in capturing prisoners, parading them with nooses around their necks, making offerings, preparing the officiants and the community, consummation of the sacrifice and presenting the blood to the priest in a chalice. Human sacrifices were part of the propitiatory ceremonies held in honour of the gods in order to favour human fertility, obtain good harvests and preserve a plentiful supply of water for irrigating the valleys.

The therapeutic properties of the seeds of the Nectandra species favoured their utilisation in the ritual sacrifices of the Moche culture. Their use was probably associated with stramonium and San Pedro cactus, which contain extracts rich in hallucinogenic alkaloids.