Quest for chocolate
1,000-year-old chocolate at Chaco shows ancients loved the stuff

Volunteer Mandy Harmon (right) assists UNM field school crew member Adam Watson with the re-excavation of the Pueblo Bonito midden trenches in 2005. Courtesy Photo

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Gaye Brown de Alvarez
Staff writer

CHACO CANYON NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK — Chocolate in Chaco Canyon?

Evidence of chocolate has been found in Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, the earliest indication of the tasty substance north of Mexico, Patricia L. Crown of the University of New Mexico and W. Jeffrey Hurst of the Hershey Center for Health and Nutrition report in the Jan. 24 issue of “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”

The discovery, dated to between A.D. 100 and 1125 indicates trade was under way between Chaco Canyon residents and cacao growers in Central America. But the nearest cacao plantation would have been more than 1,000 miles away, so importing the material would have been a major undertaking, she said. Chocolate was probably something not consumed often in Chaco Canyon, Crown said. It also probably tasted bitter compared with what is available today. It is believed the Central Americans did not sweeten their chocolate and sometimes mixed in hot peppers.

The cacao tree is grown in the tropics in a band between 10 to 20 degrees north and south of the equator, sometimes called the “Cocoa Belt.” The tree is often grown in the shades of other trees. It can be as tall as 40 feet, and has pods which are more than a foot long. The fruits may be brownish-yellow to purple, and contain 20-40 seeds or cacao beans in a pink, sweet-sour pulp.

The idea of trade goods making their way from Central America to Chaco is not far-fetched. Archaeologists have found the remains of macaws, a tropical bird, along with copper bells.

“If they could get birds — live birds — from Meso-America, they should have been able to get beans,” Crown said.

Until Crown teamed up with Hurst, no one had found evidence of chocolate north of the Mexican border.

The chocolate-stained pot fragment came from a UNM excavation of a midden area, or trash mound at Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon. Crown has long been interested in a particular type of ceramic jar found at Chaco, about the size and shape of a tall drinking glass. They were similar to jars found in Mayan ruins in Central America.

There are many of these vessels at the American Museum of Natural History is New York, said Russ Bodnar, chief of interpretation at Chaco Canyon. A large excavation took place sometime between 1896 to 1900 and these vessels have been in the museum and also at the Smithsonian for more than 100 years, he added. Archaeologists have found traces of chocolate on the Mayan jars, and Crown wondered whether the jars at Chaco were used for the same thing. So she carefully ground up a sample of one of the Chaco fragments and sent it to Hurst to analyze in his lab. The results came back last fall — a positive hit for theobromine, a chemical unique to chocolate. Cacao grows only in tropical climates, suggesting that someone must have carried it to Chaco, half a continent away.

“We’re cautious and excited to do more testing on the other jars that have been in the museums for over 100 years,” Bodnar said.

Chocolate and cacao are often associated with love. All this is because of phenylethylamine contained in the cacao. There is no way to know how the chocolate was prepared in Chaco Canyon. More detailed analysis of the Mayan samples suggests that they added other flavorings to their cocoa drinks, including corn meal, honey, chile and vanilla. That sort of analysis has yet to be done on the Chaco samples, so Crown can only guess. Chocolate was used in rituals in Central America as early as 1500 B.C. and was even a form of currency among the Aztec.

Bodnar joked that perhaps Chaco Canyon could get a corporate sponsorship after the cocoa find and maybe they could offer chocolate specialties in the gift shop.

Anxious to try some raw, natural cacao? Maybe get some for your sweetie for Valentine’s Day?

Order some at: www.rawcacao.com
In Gallup, buy a similar high-percentage cocoa chocolate bar at: La Montanita Co-op Food Market, at 105 E. Coal.