Snuff tray

A snuff tray, also known as a snuff tablet, is a hand-carved tablet or tray traditionally used in the preparation and inhalation of sacred plants in powder form, typically administered through a snuff tube. These preparations are intended to induce visionary experiences and are part of ceremonial practices among various Indigenous cultures. Snuff trays are best known from the Tiwanaku and Wari civilizations of the Andes in South America. The most frequently used botanical source was Anadenanthera colubrina (known as willka or cebil), while in northern South America, the closely related Anadenanthera peregrina was used to prepare **yopo**, and in the Greater Antilles, it was known as **cohoba**. In addition to wooden and stone examples, archaeologists have also recovered golden snuff trays from the Muisca culture, now housed in the Museo del Oro in Bogotá, Colombia.

Beyond their physical form, snuff trays fulfilled complex ceremonial functions in ancient South American societies. They were part of broader ritual kits that included inhaling tubes, spatulas, mortars, and other implements used in practices of healing, vision, and cosmological communication. Many trays feature carved designs interpreted as representations of mythological beings, celestial patterns, or ancestral spirits, particularly in the art of the Tiwanaku and Wari civilizations.

While most archaeological examples date to pre-Columbian contexts, related instruments remain in ceremonial use today. Among the Piaroa people of the Upper Orinoco, for instance, small undecorated wooden trays are used to serve the sacred preparation Ñuá. These objects are valued not for aesthetic detail but for their role in sustaining cosmological order and cultural continuity.