Scientists find chocolate remnants in Mexico

New Mexico, February 3: Scientists have discovered an important fact pertaining to the history of chocolate. According to a study published on Monday, scientists found remnants of theobromine on pottery shavings discovered in a multi-storey pueblo in north-western New Mexico.

Earlier, the researchers believed that cacao had arrived in the U.S. in the 15th century. But the latest research shows that people in Southwest America might have brewed cacao in AD 1000.

Cacao is the main ingredient used in making Valentine’s Day chocolates and hot drinks.

Archaeologist Keith Prufer of the University of New Mexico, who was not a part of the research, said, “This should open a much broader discussion about interactions between Mesoamerica and the Southwest.”

He added, “We’ve had these discussions before, but this presents a new take on it.”

Chaco culture existed in the area where cacao has been discovered now. This place is Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico.

The Chaco culture began expanding around AD 900. The multi-storey pueblo consists of a whopping 800 rooms constructed between AD 860 and 1128. But this site has not been occupied since AD 1250.

The cylinder jars, near which traces of cacao were observed, are almost two and a half times taller than they are wide. Mostly they are painted in black patterns or white backgrounds. They are almost the same as you venture throughout Central America.

However, they are a rarity in the Southwest. A mere 200 have been found in the region of Pueblo Bonito with 111 found in a single room at the pueblo.

The jar site is being carefully studied by Archaeologist Patricia L. Crown of the University of New Mexico for several years now. She consulted chemist W. Jeffrey Hurst of the Hershey Center for Health and Nutrition in Hershey, Pa. so as to test the cylinder shards.

These shards were scratched and the interior was dissolved in water. A mass chromatograph was then used to study them.

Crown was quoted as saying, “This tells us that cacao was an exchange item that was coming at least into the Southwest.” She further explained, “That’s one more thing we know was coming from that area.”

Other items that were analyzed include copper bells, cloissone enamel and scarlet macaws.

At present, researchers are still not sure as to how the beans were being utilized by the Chaco. But since the cylinders were concentrated in one room, this could mean that their use was ceremonial.

Crown said, “The fact that [the cylinders] are low in numbers and deposited in caches suggests a ritual rather than something one would consume on an everyday basis.”