Yabba dabba doo!

Snippets of hair believed to have belonged to Bronze Age shamans on the Spanish island of Menorca were found to have traces of psychoactive alkaloids, offering the first evidence of hallucinogenic drug use in Europe 3,000 years ago.

The locks of hair were discovered in a secret compartment of a burial chamber in the Es Càrritx cave on the Mediterranean island. They tested positive for alkaloids scopolamine and atropine — which can cause delirium — and ephedrine, a stimulant, according to the new study.

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona archaeologist Elisa Guerra-Doce, who led the study, told IFL Science that previous excavations of the cave revealed the remnants of at least 210 individuals buried there between 1400 BCE and 800 BCE.

Many of the bodies had been found with red-dyed hair, and several were buried with locks of colored hair placed inside tubes made from bone or wood.

However, researchers unveiled a previously undiscovered space deep inside of the cave that contained an additional 10 tubes with locks of hair inside of them and other items from the time period concealed behind a layer of clay.

Scientists discovered the presence of mind-altering substances using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography and high-resolution mass spectroscopy, according to the study.

 “The interesting thing about this work is that it documents the consumption [of hallucinogenic plants] in human samples for the first time,” Guerra-Doce told IFL Science.

“Previously, plants with psychoactive properties had been documented in numerous archaeological contexts – including some that are much older than Es Càrritx – but these were all indirect evidence,” she added.

Scopolamine and atropine can be found among plants in the Datura genus, which for centuries have been associated with witchcraft and sorcery in the Western world.

Guerra-Doce noted that the results do not necessarily mean that these people were ingesting the plants to get high, but “shows that these people actually consumed these drugs, which were derived from various plants.”

In large doses, the alkaloids found in the hair can cause “extreme mental confusion, strong and realistic hallucinations, disorientation… [and] out-of-body experiences and a feeling of alteration of the skin, as if growing fur or feathers,” according to the study.

“Considering the potential toxicity of the alkaloids found in the hair, their handling, use and applications represented highly specialized knowledge,” researchers wrote. 

This special knowledge has led researchers to believe that the hair found was that of ancient shamans.

The tubes in which the hair was found were decorated with concentric circles — which researchers said may represent the “inner vision” shamans experienced after ingesting hallucinogenic plants.

Guerra-Doce told IFL Science researchers believe the tubes may have been meticulously hidden due to some kind of “social instability” among the people of Menorca roughly 3,000 years ago.

“In this context, in the cave of Es Càrritx, some individuals reluctant to abandon ancient traditions, concealed a collection of ritual objects belonging to certain members of the community, possibly shamans, in the hope that the former social order could be re-established in the future,” researchers wrote.