The popularly called Tassili mushroom figures are Neolithic petroglyphs and cave paintings discovered in Tassili n'Ajjer, Algeria, which contain features resembling mushrooms. Hypothesized to date back to 7000–5000 BC, they are considered by some researchers to be figures that have shamanic connotations and one of the strongest pieces of evidence for ethnomycological data.[1] It is possibly the oldest example of rock art used to claim the ritual use of fungi in prehistory, with Tassili being the first site that likely may contain representations of the genus Psilocybe (the second example is at the Spanish archaeological site of Selva Pascuala).[2] However, interpretations of Tassili's drawings are disputed and it is unknown whether they actually represent mushrooms or specific natural or cultural elements.
The discovery of prehistoric rock art at the Tassili n'Ajjer archaeological site occurred throughout the 1910s, 1930s, and into the 1960s.[3] The popularizer of these figures in particular was Henri Lhote (in publications of 1968, 1973), who associated them with specialized shamanic ceremonies, on the hypothesis that their caves served as sacred sanctuaries.[4] But they had already been discovered by local Tuaregs and French Lieutenant Charles Brenans, who documented some of the paintings between 1933 and 1938. Lhote was a member of Brenans' team and gathered his notes. Afterwards, Lhote returned to the site on new expeditions, between 1956 and 1962; Jean-Dominique Lajoux was a photographer for Lhote's Sahara expeditions.[5] Lhote's descriptive approach has been criticized for reducing them to a religious interpretation and for popularizing terms such as "Martians" or "Great Gods" among archaeologists to refer to the round-headed figures at Tassili.The mushroom-like silhouette type has been variously interpreted by researchers as an arrowhead, oar (according to ethnographer Fabrizio Mori, 1975), a vegetable (probably a flower, according to Henri Lhote), or an undefined enigmatic symbol. In one of the panels, several masked anthropomorphic figures appear to be dancing and holding mushrooms.[6] A publication by the US Forest Service acknowledged that "The oldest known petroglyph depicting the use of psychoactive mushrooms comes from the rock shelters at Tassili n'Ajjer" and that "It is postulated that the mushrooms depicted on the “mushroom shaman” are Psilocybe mushrooms.".[7] [8] Other drawings with mushroom-shaped features appear on petroglyphs in the region.
The ethnobotanist[9] Giorgio Samorini characterized them as probably the oldest physical evidence of entheomycological practices (the use of psychedelic mushrooms), reflecting altered states of consciousness and dance rituals, according to the posture of certain figures. Mycologist Gastón Guzmán considers that the mushrooms in the picture are of the PsiIocybe mairei species, but they also resemble other African mushrooms from the region, such as P. cubensis, P. aquamarina and P. natalensis.[10]
However, there are recent studies by scholars of rock art who question the shamanistic paradigm and the supposed interpretations that certain characteristics of the images would illustrate pre-existing anthropological categories, which assumes a universal application for different cultures. Ethnomycologist Brian Akers (PhD) says it's not certain whether the Tassili figures are the oldest to represent mushrooms, nor as to dating and scientific peer review, nor as to style, which is far from naturalistic and can be abstract. He claims that Tassili's arts have become iconic 1990s psychedelia in popular culture and have been the subject of fringe theories such as the "Ancient Psychonaut Theory" and the Ancient Astronaut Theory.[11]