Meso-American Mushroom Stones

Facsimile of mushroom stone from classic Mayan culture (ca. 300-600 A.D.), found by Carl Sapper in El Salvador in 1898. The original resides in the Rietberg Museum, Zurich, Switzerland.

About 400 pre-Columbian mushroom stones, dating from as far back as 1000-500 B.C.E., have been found in Mesoamerica and derive mainly from the Mayan culture. Found principally in the Guatemala highlands, some were discovered as far south as Honduras and El Salvador, and as far north as southern and western Mexico.

These stones indicate the existence of a sophisticated mushroom cult involving the sacramental consumption of teonanácatl.