Food of the Gods or mere mortals? Hallucinogenic<i>Spondylus</i>and its interpretive implications for early Andean society

Abstract

Eating shellfish in the wrong season makes you ill. But early people of the Andes seem to have courted these effects to gain out-of-body experiences. It may have been these effects, as well as its distinctive colouring and appearance, that made Spondylus such a very special commodity.