While pre-Columbian texts and preserved depictions document well the importance of cacao in Mesoamerican society in the millennium before the Spanish invaded, scientists have had to apply other means to reconstruct the earlier history of cacao, the botanical source of chocolate, which is produced from the seeds of the rainforest's Theobroma cacao tree.
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Chemical evidence does not distinguish between a beverage made from cacao seeds and a fermented drink called "chicha" that was made from pulp around the seeds because theobromine and caffeine are found in both parts of the cacao plant. But the researchers said the pottery vessels' round shapes point toward their use in pouring liquids like a fermented cacao drink. In the later Middle Formative period, spouted bottles with flaring necks were considered better for pouring frothy chocolate drinks.
Joyce, who has been conducting field research in Honduras since 1977, said it makes sense that a "chocolate beer" would have preceded development of the today's traditional chocolate because fermentation is a necessary step in its manufacture, after the pods are harvested and before the seeds are extracted, dried and toasted. She noted previous research pointed to corn as the source of the first fermented beverages, rather than cacao as she and her team have found.
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Puerto Escondido residents served cacao at celebratory events such as weddings and births to distinguish themselves socially and to create social obligations that contributed to the development of political influence. The researchers said the ritual also contributed to the emergence of elites like those Spanish conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo observed - and later wrote about - who served chocolate in the Aztec imperial court.
Moving up the earliest known date of cacao usage by 500 years, Joyce said, "vastly changes the models of how we think about cacao cultivation."
It also offers a delicious twist for modern chocolate lovers who think of chocolate as a solid rather than as a fermented drink, she said. It also serves up a new example of how archaeology can stand contemporary knowledge on its head, she added.
Joyce is chair of UC Berkeley's anthropology department. McGovern is an expert on the chemical analysis of ancient fermented drinks and has written a book about the pre-history of wine and fermented beverages.
.. snip ..
Chemical evidence does not distinguish between a beverage made from cacao seeds and a fermented drink called "chicha" that was made from pulp around the seeds because theobromine and caffeine are found in both parts of the cacao plant. But the researchers said the pottery vessels' round shapes point toward their use in pouring liquids like a fermented cacao drink. In the later Middle Formative period, spouted bottles with flaring necks were considered better for pouring frothy chocolate drinks.
Joyce, who has been conducting field research in Honduras since 1977, said it makes sense that a "chocolate beer" would have preceded development of the today's traditional chocolate because fermentation is a necessary step in its manufacture, after the pods are harvested and before the seeds are extracted, dried and toasted. She noted previous research pointed to corn as the source of the first fermented beverages, rather than cacao as she and her team have found.
.. snip ..
Puerto Escondido residents served cacao at celebratory events such as weddings and births to distinguish themselves socially and to create social obligations that contributed to the development of political influence. The researchers said the ritual also contributed to the emergence of elites like those Spanish conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo observed - and later wrote about - who served chocolate in the Aztec imperial court.
Moving up the earliest known date of cacao usage by 500 years, Joyce said, "vastly changes the models of how we think about cacao cultivation."
It also offers a delicious twist for modern chocolate lovers who think of chocolate as a solid rather than as a fermented drink, she said. It also serves up a new example of how archaeology can stand contemporary knowledge on its head, she added.
Joyce is chair of UC Berkeley's anthropology department. McGovern is an expert on the chemical analysis of ancient fermented drinks and has written a book about the pre-history of wine and fermented beverages.
