Research group studies chocolate use from ancient Central American pottery
Submitted by coldrum on Thursday, 03 January 2008 Page Views: 1656
Pre-ContactKennesaw State University Professor Terry Powis led a research group that determined man first used of chocolate about 1,900 BCE, about 700 years earlier than expected. Almost 4,000 years ago, residents of hot and humid Central America probably served chocolate, which comes from the beans of the cacao tree, as a cold beverage with different flavors, Powis said.Powis, an assistant professor of anthropology, spent three weeks in a Chiapas, Mexico lab gathering samples from ceramic jars and bowls that date from 1,900 BCE to 1,500 BCE The research from Powis' team appeared in the December edition of 'Antiquity.'
Michael Coe, a retired Yale University professor of anthropology and co-author of the journal article, said the findings show that chocolate has been used far longer than researchers would have guessed a decade ago. "We now know how very old the chocolate process - turning raw cacao into chocolate - really is," Coe said. The study means that the Mokaya, the earliest sedentary villagers in Mesoamerica, probably drank some form of cold, liquid chocolate from elaborate bowls and jars, Powis said.
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