At an archaeological site in the Non Nak Tha region of northern Thailand, the bones of zebu cattle were recently unearthed in conjunction with human remains. We know that Psilocybe cubensis flourishes in the manure of cattle and buffaloes in this region of northeastern Thailand. Terence McKenna has suggested that the temporal and physical relationship between the human bones and the bones of cattle is conclusive evidence that psychoactive mushrooms were known to the people who frequented this region about 15,000 years ago (McKenna, 1992).

On the Tassili Plains in northern Algeria, cave paintings dating as far back as 9.000 B.C. (Samorini. 1992; Gartz, 1996) portray anthropomorphic figures with mushroom images on their bodies, evidence that mushrooms were known and used in a mystical manner.

Emboden (1979) describes, among traditional folk remedies from the 2nd century Chin dynasty in China, a cure for ‘the laughing sickness’, mushroom intoxication attributed to the accidental ingestion of psilocybin mushrooms.

In Central and Southern America use of psilocybin mushrooms (and other hallucinogens) was common until the arrival of Spaniards who spread the Catholic faith with sword and fire, and forbade their usage. The Mixtec even had a god for hallucinatory plants, especially the divine mushroom, who is called Piltzintecuhtli (“Seven Flower”) and is depicted with a pair of mushrooms in his hand (Wasson 1898). But also the Aztecs had their god for the entheogens, Xochipilli (“Prince of Flowers”). Mushrooms ingested by the indigenous people were supposedly Psilocybe mexicana or caerulescens, and Panaolus sphinctrinus.

The appeal of mushrooms in the “modern world” originated when Gordon Wasson came to the Mazatec village of Huatla de Jimenez and experienced a session of “velada” held by curandera Maria Sabina. Velada included a religious ritual under a heavy influence of Psilocybe mushrooms (Wasson 1898).

Information about the mushrooms spread and modern experimentation began. In 1958 the active ingredients of the mushroom, psilocybin and psilocin, were discovered, and their analogues synthesized, by Dr Albert Hoffman, who also discovered lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) (Schwartz 1988).

Experimentation with the mushrooms increased immensely, leading to the significant role they played in the “60’s psychedelic movement” (The Vaults of Erowid: Sacred mushrooms.). And even these days, Psilocybe mushrooms are one of the most common hallucinogenic substances for recreational use (Adlaf 1998).

P. cubensis (Earle) Singer, a coprophilous (dung-inhabiting) species, common in subtropical regions, but unknown in the tropics, was first identified from a specimen collected in Cuba in 1904 as Stropharia cubensis (Earle 1906). About the same time, Patouillard (1907) collected Naematoloma caerulescens (which is now synonymous with P. cubensis) in Tonkin (Hanoi), North Vietnam.