Tripping through Time: The Fascinating History of the Magic Mushroom

The psilocybin group of mushrooms, popularly known as magic mushrooms, shrooms or psychedelic mushrooms, is found in over two hundred varieties around the world. We know them today as a recreational drug used to induce hallucinations and a sense of euphoria, but the ancient origin of magic mushrooms goes back thousands of years. Let us take a look at some of the history that mankind shares with the psychoactive drug psilocybin and its host, magic mushrooms.

Evidence Shows Prehistoric Use of Mushrooms

Although it would be impossible to determine exactly when and where it first began, there is evidence in the form of stone paintings that Saharan aboriginal tribes of North Africa might have been using mushrooms from around 9000 BC. Similarly, rock paintings in Spain created about 6000 years ago suggest that the mushroom Psilocybe hispanica was used during certain religious rituals near Villar del Humo. It is very much possible that mushroom use by prehistoric cultures began even before that time, and we have just not found the evidence to suggest so yet.

Rock art at Selva Pascuala in Spain appears to depict a row of mushrooms. Credit: Juan Francisco Ruiz López