Origin of the Mescal Bean Cult

Abstract

American Anthropologist[60, 19581 northern and California Athapaskans and probably has been a basic pattern for some time, the problem remains whether there is any evidence that there was an even earlier pattern for the first ascending generation. This is what I have attempted to do by utilizing Murdock's technique of historical reconstruction. Each reader will have to determine if this approach can safely be extended beyond linguistic confirmation. He willalso have todetermine whether a comparative linguistic analysis can be used by itself to reconstruct a protokinship system without supporting evidence of the underlying social structure. In any case, the variation of terms and structure of the first ascending generation of the Athapaskans presents an intriguing problem which the present discussion hasiby no means exhausted.

The hunter‐gatherer nomads of northern Mexico: A comparison of the archival and archaeological records

“…These statements suggest that narcosis and intoxication were customary. We note that from one Mayran Complex (late) burial cave in west-central Coahuila there is a series of peyote buttons strung on a string, that from Frightful Cave there are several bags full of seeds of the Texas buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa), which are narcotic in small doses, fatal in large amounts, and that throughout the site we found quantities of the so-called 'mescal bean' (Sophora secundiflora), a well-known narcotic (Campbell 1958). Deer ceremonialism is reported for the Laguna District, where 'the heads with their horns' of deer killed by ancestors are kept and used in mourning ceremonies and in rites to secure health and success in hunting.…”

Lower Pecos and Coahuila peyote: new radiocarbon dates

“…2). Peyote has also been reported by Woolsey at Fields Shelter [7], by Hicks at a shelter in Crockett County, Texas [14], and by Sayles at several Texas sites [19]. However, no specimens from any of those sites have been located in collections.…”

New Light on Old Art: Recent Advances in Hunter-Gatherer Rock Art Research

“…More specifically, the origin of the Pecos River style in a shamanic religious tradition has also long been recognized (Kirkland and Newcomb 1967). Building upon Campbell's (1958) hypothesis that the paintings were associated with mescal bean visions, Newcomb identified the focal characters as shamans or members of social groups equivalent to historic medicine societies (Kirkland and Newcomb 1967). Newcomb's hypothesis was largely drawn from ethnographic analogy, but shamanistic principles are clearly evident in the iconography (Turpin l991b).…”