The Religion with No Name · source record · paper

Datura quids at Pinwheel Cave, California, provide unambiguous confirmation of the ingestion of hallucinogens at a rock art site

Robinson, David W.; Brown, Kelly; McMenemy, Moira; Dennany, Lynn; Baker, Matthew J.; et al. · 2020

AI-verified citationSRC-ROBINSON-2020

identifier / locator: PNAS 117(49): 31026–31037 (2020-11-23). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2014529117
url: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2014529117
verification note: DOI, title, journal, volume/issue, and pages verified via the Crossref API (2026-08-25 batch).
reliability notes: Methodological benchmark: chemistry (atropine/scopolamine in chewed quids) connecting a psychoactive plant, human consumption, and a ritualized space.
California; no geographic or cultural link to Eleusis or Christianity — comparative evidence only.

Evidence drawn from this source

Supports· strongTIK-E004

what the source states: Quids recovered from ceiling crevices at a California rock-art site contained atropine and scopolamine and were identified as chewed Datura wrightii; the authors describe the result as unambiguous confirmation of hallucinogen ingestion at a rock-art site.
what we infer: The methodological benchmark: archaeology can move past speculative iconography and connect a psychoactive plant, human consumption, and a ritualized space with chemistry. Its relevance to this case is method and background rate, not geography — California is not an evidence link between Eleusis and Christianity.
limitations: No cultural or geographic connection to the Mediterranean; comparative evidence only.