January 24, 2013
New Evidence Suggests People Have Been Enjoying Chocolate in North America for 1200 Years Although the plant had a place of pride in Mesoamerican society, it is not thought to have traveled very far north. Archaeologists have searched for connections between Mesoamerican people and those who were living in the American southwest and have found few. Now, a new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science suggests that there might have been more exchange than previously thought. Their evidence? Chocolate. Well, not chocolate exactly, but traces of theobromine and caffeine (two compounds found in cacao) in bowls from an eighth-century archaeological site in Alkali Ridge, Utah. That chocolate would have had to have been imported from Mesoamerican cacao orchards, thousands of miles away. Read more. [Images: Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology/Harvard University via Science]

New Evidence Suggests People Have Been Enjoying Chocolate in North America for 1200 Years

Although the plant had a place of pride in Mesoamerican society, it is not thought to have traveled very far north. Archaeologists have searched for connections between Mesoamerican people and those who were living in the American southwest and have found few.

Now, a new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science suggests that there might have been more exchange than previously thought. Their evidence? Chocolate. Well, not chocolate exactly, but traces of theobromine and caffeine (two compounds found in cacao) in bowls from an eighth-century archaeological site in Alkali Ridge, Utah. That chocolate would have had to have been imported from Mesoamerican cacao orchards, thousands of miles away.

Read more. [Images: Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology/Harvard University via Science]

3:48pm
(Notes: 86)
  
Filed under: North America History Food Chocolate Technology 
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    I saw “dark chocolate” recently on a list of the 5 healthiest foods. I did not feel compelled to get a second opinion.
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