Chemical and archaeological evidence for the earliest cacao beverages
- 27 November 2007
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Vol. 104 (48) , 18937-18940
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0708815104
Abstract
Chemical analyses of residues extracted from pottery vessels from Puerto Escondido in what is now Honduras show that cacao beverages were being made there before 1000 B.C., extending the confirmed use of cacao back at least 500 years. The famous chocolate beverage served on special occasions in later times in Mesoamerica, especially by elites, was made from cacao seeds. The earliest cacao beverages consumed at Puerto Escondido were likely produced by fermenting the sweet pulp surrounding the seeds.Keywords
This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit:
- Implications of new petrographic analysis for the Olmec “mother culture” modelProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2005
- Olmec Pottery Production and Export in Ancient Mexico Determined Through Elemental AnalysisScience, 2005
- Fermented beverages of pre- and proto-historic ChinaProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2004
- Cacao usage by the earliest Maya civilizationNature, 2002
- Spouted Vessels and Cacao Use among the Preclassic MayaLatin American Antiquity, 2002
- Beginnings of Village Life in Eastern MesoamericaLatin American Antiquity, 2001
- Neolithic resinated wineNature, 1996
- Chemical evidence for ancient beerNature, 1992
- Cacao Residues in Ancient Maya Vessels from Rio Azul, GuatemalaAmerican Antiquity, 1990
- THE DISTRIBUTION OF CACAO CULTIVATION IN PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICA1Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 1969