page_title: Snuff tray
section_title: Sites of discovery
hierarchical_section_title: Snuff tray / Sites of discovery
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: beeld in Tihuanaco van nl:wikipedia:Robert Beunder
context_page_description: A snuff tray, also known as a snuff tablet, is a hand-carved tablet or tray that was made for the purpose of inhaling a psychoactive drug also referred to as being hallucinogenic, entheogenic, or psychedelic, in the form similar to tobacco snuff prepared as a powder using a snuff tube. Snuff trays are best-known from the Tiwanaku culture of the Andes in South America. The principal substance thought to have been inhaled was known as willka (Anadenanthera colubrina), also referred to as cebil, and known as yopó in northern South America and cohoba in the Greater Antilles, where it was also prepared from other species of the genus Anadenanthera.
  Most snuff trays are made of wood. Some are made of stone or bone, though there are very few examples of these materials being used. Snuff trays are rectangular or trapezoidal in shape, depending on what style they are and have a shallow cavity running through them. Their shape relates to the region as well as the culture that they originate from. Most snuff trays have been associated with the Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco) or the Wari (Huari) culture. They may be decorated with intricate. hand-carved designs on one end as well as on the sides.
context_section_description: Archaeologists encountered snuff trays while excavating underground tombs and sites in the San Pedro de Atacama region as well as the southern central Andes. Snuff trays were found buried with the elites of ancient societies in their tombs along with other valuable items that lower socioeconomic peoples would not have had access to. Along with snuff trays these mummies have been found with inhaling tubes, spatulas, mortars and pestles, and snuff powder containers. In addition, snuff trays have been found in statues or monolith depictions of mythical ancestral elites, different deities and ancestral rulers at Tiwanaku sites. The statues or monoliths are usually found holding a snuff tray in one of their hands. This evidence points to snuff trays as having a huge significance in the society and culture of these Tiwanaku sites because of their existence. Due to this evidence, scientists and archeologists have concluded that snuff trays were a very significant part of society, culture and the socioeconomic class structure of higher up elite individuals.
caption: This is an example of a Tiwanaku monolith statue holding a snuff tray. The snuff tray is being held in the statues left hand and can be identified because of its sharp top corners and intricate design.
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