Miniature Mushroom Stones from Guatemala

AbstractA cache of nine miniature mushroom stones and nine miniature metates with manos from the Verbena cemetery at Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala, date from the Verbena subphase of the Miraflores phase of the Preclassic, 1000-500 B.C. All of the mushroom stones are of Type B with a circular groove around the base of the cap. This type has been found in a Verbena tomb in Mound E-III-3 at the same site. The cache of nine miniatures demonstrates considerable antiquity for the “mushroom-stone cult,” and suggests a possible association with the nine lords of the night and gods of the underworld, as well as the possible existence of a nine-day cycle and nocturnal count in Preclassic times. The association of the miniature mushroom stones with the miniature metates and manos greatly strengthens the possibility that at least in some areas in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica metates were used to grind the sacred hallucinatory mushrooms to prepare them for ceremonial consumption.