Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-nwzlb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T01:58:44.570Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Archaeological Residues and Recipes: Exploratory Testing for Evidence of Maize and Cacao Beverages in Postclassic Vessels from the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Daniela Soleri
Affiliation:
Geography Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4060 (soleri@geog.ucsb.edu)
Marcus Winter
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Pino Suárez 715, 68000 Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico (winteroax@prodigy.net.mx)
Steven R. Bozarth
Affiliation:
University of Kansas Palynology Laboratory, Department of Geography, Lawrence, KA 66045-7613 (sbozarth@ku.edu)
W. Jeffrey Hurst
Affiliation:
The Hershey Company Technical Center, Hershey, PA 17033 (whurst@hersheys.com

Abstract

As dates of earliest use of Theobroma cacao in ancient Mesoamerica are established, interest is shifting to how cacao was used. One approach is to consider combinations of ingredients—the recipes for ancient cacao use. Beverages made from cacao seeds and maize have a long history in Mesoamerica. We began testing the hypothesis that there is qualitative evidence of this beverage type in the Postclassic archaeological record in a region where such a beverage, tejate, is a culturally significant food today. We looked for evidence of tejate ingredients in residue samples from eight Postclassic and one contemporary vessel from the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Detection of morphologically specific maize phytoliths was accomplished by taxonomic analysis and comparison with a reference collection. Tejate ingredients Pouteria sapota and Quararibea funebris were also processed for phytolith detection. Testing for methylxanthines characteristic of Theobroma species used high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Four vessels were positive for maize phytoliths; three were positive for theobromine; two were positive for both maize and cacao. No diagnostic phytoliths were identified for the other tejate ingredients. Our hypothesis was supported; still, many challenges are present in the search for a deeper understanding of ancient cacao usage in this region of Mesoamerica.

Estudios recientes han fechado el uso de Theobroma cacao en varias regiones de Mesoamérica y ahora el interés en el cacao ha cambiado hacia cómo fue utilizado. Un enfoque es considerar las combinaciones de ingredientes, las recetas para el uso antiguo del cacao. Las bebidas hechas de semillas de cacao y maíz tienen una larga historia en Mesoamérica. Nosotros sometimos a prueba la hipótesis de que existe evidencia cualitativa de este tipo de bebida en el registro arqueológico del Postclásico, en una región donde hoy en día el tejate es un alimento culturalmente importante. Buscamos evidencia de los ingredientes del tejate en muestras de residuos tomadas de ocho vasijas postclásicas y una vasija contemporánea, todas procedentes del Valle de Oaxaca, México. Se detectaron fitolitos de maíz morfológicamente específicos por medio de análisis taxonómico y comparación con una colección de referencia. Los ingredientes del tejate, Poutería sapota (semillas de mamey) y Quararibea funebris (flor de rosita de cacao) también fueron procesados para detectar fitolitos. Se utilizó cromatografía líquidaespectometría de masas de alto rendimiento para la prueba de presencia de metilxantinas características de las especies de Theobroma. Cuatro vasijas resultaron positivas para fitolitos de maíz, tres positivas para teobromina y dos positivas tanto para maíz como para cacao. No se identificaron fitolitos diagnósticos para los otros ingredientes del tejate. Los resultados apoyan nuestra hipótesis. Sin embargo, quedan numerosos retos en la búsqueda de un mejor entendimiento sobre el uso antiguo del cacao en esta región de Mesoamérica.

Type
Reports
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Anders, Ferdinand, Jansen, Maarten, and Pérez Jiménez, Gabina Aurora (editors) 1992 Cronica Mixteca. Elrey 8 venado, garra de jaguar, y la dinastía de Teozacualco-Zaachila. Fondo de Cultura Económica and Akademische Druck und Verlagsanstald, Mexico City and Graz, Austria.Google Scholar
Bourges Rodríguez, Héctor, Morales de León, Josefina, Camacho Parra, María Elena, and Escobedo Olea, Gabriela 1996 Tablas de composición de alimentos. Editión de aniversario. 50th ed. Subdirección de Nutrición Experimental y Ciencia de los Alimentos, Instituto Nacional de la Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Bozarth, Steven R. 1987 Diagnostic Opal Phytoliths from Rinds of Selected Cucurbita Species. American Antiquity 53:607615.Google Scholar
Bozarth, Steven R. 1990 Diagnostic Opal Phytoliths from Pods of Selected Varieties of Common Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). American Antiquity 55:98104.Google Scholar
Bozarth, Steven R. 1993a Maize (Zea mays) Cob Phytoliths from a Central Kansas Great Bend Aspect Archaeological Site. Plains Anthropologist 38:279286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bozarth, Steven R. 1993b Opal Phytolith Analysis of Shell Middens at Sites P-309B and P-313N. In Prehistoric Human Ecology on the Golfo Dulce, Southwestern Costa Rica, edited by John W. Hoopes. Manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.Google Scholar
Bozarth, Steven R. 1997 Pollen and Phytolith Analyses. In Agricultural, Subsistence, and Environmental Studies, edited by Jeffrey A. Homburg, Richard Ciolek-Torrello, pp. 178204. Vanishing River: Landscapes and Lives of the Lower Verde Valley: The Lower Verde Archaeological Project, Vol. 2, SRI Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Bozarth, Steven R. 2005 Phytolith Analysis of Residue from Two Ceramic Vessels and an Offering Platform from the Margarita Complex, Copán, Honduras. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Arqueológicas, Copán, Honduras, and the Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.Google Scholar
Caso, Alfonso, Bernal, Ignacio, and Acosta, Jorge R. 1967 La cerámica de Monte Albán. Instituto National de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Castillo Morales, Marisol, Wacher-Rodarte, María del Carmen, and Sánchez, Humberto Hernández 2005 Preliminary Studies on Chorote–a Traditional Mexican Fermented Product. World Journal of Microbiology & Biotechnology 21:293296.Google Scholar
Cavalieri, Duccio, McGovern, Patrick E., Hartl, Daniel L., Mortimer, Robert, and Polsinelli, Mario 2003 Evidence for S. cerevisiae Fermentation in Ancient Wine. Journal of Molecular Evolution 57:S226S232.Google Scholar
Crown, Patricia L., Emerson, Thomas E., Gu, Jiyan, Jeffrey Hurst, W., Pauketat, Timothy R., and Ward, Timothy 2012 Ritual Black Drink Consumption at Cahokia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109:1394413949.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crown, Patricia L., and Jeffrey Hurst, W. 2009 Evidence of Cacao Use in the Prehispanic American Southwest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106:21102113.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flannery, Kent V., and Marcus, Joyce 1994 Early Formative Pottery of the Valley of Oaxaca. Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Valley of Oaxaca, Vol. 27. Memoirs of the Museum of Anthropology Vol. 10. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Gasco, Janine 2006 Soconusco Cacao Farmers Past and Present. In Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao, edited by Cameron L. McNeil, pp. 322337. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
González Esperón, Luz María 2006 El tejate: Una bebida prehispánica. Secretaría de Cultura del Estado de Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico.Google Scholar
Green, Judith Strupp 2010 Feasting with Foam: Ceremonial Drinks of Cacao, Maize, and Pataxte Cacao. In Pre-Columbian Foodways: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Food, Culture, and Markets in Ancient Mesoamerica, edited by John Edward Staller and Michael D. Carrasco, pp. 315343. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Henderson, Andrew, Galeano, Gloria, and Bernal, Rodrigo 1995 Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas. Princeton University Press, Princeton.Google Scholar
Henderson, John S., Joyce, Rosemary A., Hall, Gretchen R., Jeffrey Hurst, W., and McGovern, Patrick E. 2007 Chemical and Archaeological Evidence for the Earliest Cacao Beverages. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104:1893718940.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hernández, Francisco 2000 The Mexican Treasury: The Writings of Dr Francisco Hernández. Edited by Simon Varey, translated by Rafael Chabran, Cynthia L. Chamberlin, and Simon Varey. Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
Hurst, W. Jeffrey 2006 The Determination of Cacao in Samples of Archeological Interest. In Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao, edited by Cameron L. McNeil, pp. 105113. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Hurst, W. Jeffrey, Tarka, Stanley M. Jr., Powis, Terry G., Valdez, Fred Jr., and Hester, Thomas R. 2002 Cacao Usage by the Earliest Maya Civilization. Nature 418:289290.Google Scholar
Javier Quero, Julio César 2000 Bebidas y dulces tradicionales de Tabasco. Cocina indígena y popular. Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Joyce, Rosemary A., and Henderson, John S. 2010 Forming Mesoamerican Taste: Cacao Consumption in Formative Period Contexts. In Pre-Columbian Food-ways: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Food, Culture, and Markets in Ancient Mesoamerica, edited by John Edward Staller and Michael D. Carrasco, pp. 157173. Springer, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, Diana 2010 Oaxaca al Gusto: An Infinite Gastronomy. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Kerr, Barbara, and Kerr, Justin 2005 The Way of God L: The Princeton Vase Revisited. Record of the Princeton Art Museum 64:7179.Google Scholar
Kufer, Johanna, and McNeil, Cameron L. 2006 The Jaguar Tree (Theobroma bicolor Bonpl). In Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao, edited by Cameron L. McNeil, pp. 90104. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Levine, Marc N. 2011 Negotiating Political Economy at Late Postclassic Tututepec (Yucu Dzaa), Oaxaca, Mexico. American Anthropologist 113:2239.Google Scholar
Lind, Michael D. 1987 The Sociocultural Dimensions of Mixtec Ceramics. Vanderbilt University Publications in Anthropology No 33. Vanderbilt University, Nashville.Google Scholar
Lind, Michael, and Urcid, Javier 2010 The Lords of Lambityeco: Political Evolution in the Valley of Oaxaca during the Xoo Phase. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Lo Coco, Filippo, Lanuzza, Francesco, Micali, Giuseppe, and Cappellano, Gioacchina 2007 Determination of Theobromine, Theophylline, and Caffeine in By-Products of Cupuacu and Cacao Seeds by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography. Journal of Chromatographic Science 45:27375.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marcus, Joyce 1978 Archaeology and Religion: A Comparison of the Zapotec and Maya. World Archaeology 10:172191.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce, and Flannery, Kent V. 1994 Ancient Zapotec Ritual and Religion: An Application of the Direct Historical Approach. In The Ancient Mind: Elements of Cognitive Archaeology, edited by Colin Renfrew and Ezra B. W. Zubrow, pp. 5574. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Markens, Robert 2008 Excavaciones en el Montículo 1: Una residencia del Postclásico Tardío. In Informe para el Centra SCT Oaxaca de la Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes de los Proyectos Salvamento Arqueológico Carretera Oaxaca-Istmo (SACOI) y Salvamento Arqueológico Carretera Salina Cruz-La Ventosa (SC-LV) Temporadas 2002–2008, coordinated by Marcus Winter, pp. 6570. Report on file, Centro SCT, Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico.Google Scholar
Martin, Simon 2006 Cacao in Ancient Maya Religion. In Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao, edited by Cameron L. McNeil, pp. 154183. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Martínez López, Cira, and Markens, Robert 2008 Exploraciones arqueológicas en Xaagá. In Informe para el Centra SCT Oaxaca de la Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes de los Proyectos Salvamento Arqueológico Carretera Oaxaca-Istmo (SACOI) y Salvamento Arqueológico Carretera Salina Cruz-La Ventosa (SC-LV) Temporadas 2002–2008, coordinated by Marcus Winter, pp. 171203. Report on file, Centro SCT, Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico.Google Scholar
Mathews, Jennifer P., and Garber, James F. 2004 Models of Cosmic Order: Physical Expression of Sacred Space among the Ancient Maya. Ancient Mesoamerica 15:4959.Google Scholar
McNeil, Cameron L. 2006 Traditional Cacao Use in Modern Mesoamerica. In Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao, edited by Cameron L. McNeil, pp. 341366. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Millon, René F. 1955 Trade, Tree Cultivation, and the Development of Private Property in Land. American Anthropologist 57:698712.Google Scholar
Musálem López, Linda Amira 2002 Colores, olores y sabores festivos de Juchitán, Oaxaca. Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes y Directión General de Publicaciones, Instituto Oaxaqueño de Culturas, Xoxo, Oaxaca, Mexico.Google Scholar
Nieuwland, Kees 1990 De Graftombe van Xoxocotlán: Zijn Sociale Context, Deele I. Yumtzilob 2(1):552.Google Scholar
Ogata, Nisao, Gómez-Pompa, Arturo, and Taube, Karl A. 2006 The Domestication and Distribution of Theobroma cacao L. in the Neotropics. In Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao, edited by Cameron L. McNeil, pp. 6989. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Pappa, María Renée, Palacios de Palomo, Patricia, and Bressani, Ricardo 2010 Effect of Lime and Wood Ash on the Nixtamalization of Maize and Tortilla Chemical and Nutritional Characteristics. Plant Foods and Human Nutrition 65:130135.Google Scholar
Pearsall, Deborah M. 1978 Phytolith Analysis of Archeological Soils: Evidence for Maize Cultivation in Formative Ecuador. Science 199:177178.Google Scholar
Perry, Linda, and Flannery, Kent V. 2007 Precolumbian Use of Chili Peppers in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104:1190511909.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Piperno, Dolores R. 1984 A Comparison and Differentiation of Phytoliths from Maize and Wild Grasses: Use of Morphological Criteria. American Antiquity 49:361383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piperno, Dolores R. 2006 Phytoliths – A Comprehensive Guide for Archaeologists and Paleoecologisots. AltaMira Press, Lanham, Maryland.Google Scholar
Piperno, Dolores R., and Flannery, Kent V. 2001 The Earliest Archaeological Maize (Zea mays L.) from Highland Mexico: New Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Dates and Their Implications. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 98:21012103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Piperno, Dolores R., and Smith, Bruce D. 2012 The Origins of Food Production in Mesoamerica. In The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology, edited by Deborah L. Nichols and Christopher A. Pool, pp. 151164. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Piperno, Dolores R., Ranere, Anthony J., Hoist, Irene, Iriarte, José, and Dickau, Ruth 2009 Starch Grain and Phytolith Evidence for Early Ninth Millennium B.P. Maize from the Central Balsas River Valley, Mexico. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106:50195024.Google Scholar
Piperno, Dolores R., and Stothert, Karen E. 2003 Phytolith Evidence for Early Holocene Cucurbita Domestication in Southwest Ecuador. Science 299:10541057.Google Scholar
Popenoe, Wilson 1919 Batido and Other Guatemalan Beverages Prepared from Cacao. American Anthropologist 21:403409.Google Scholar
Powis, Terry G. 2007 An Archaeological Investigation of the Origins of Cacao Drinking: The Ceramic Evidence from the Gulf Coast and Pacific Coast of México. Foundation for Ancient Mesoamerican Studies, Incorporated (FAMSI). Electronic document, http://www.famsi.org/reports/06047/index.html, accessed August 6, 2013.Google Scholar
Powis, Terry G., Valdez, Fred, Hester, Thomas R., Jeffrey Hurst, W., and Tarka, Stanley M. 2002 Spouted Vessels and Cacao Use Among the Preclassic Maya. Latin American Antiquity 13:85106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powis, Terry G., Cyphers, Ann, Gaikwad, Nilesh W., Grivetti, Louis, and Cheong, Kong 2011 Cacao Use and the San Lorenzo Olmec. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108:85958600.Google Scholar
Prufer, Keith M., and Jeffrey Hurst, W. 2007 Chocolate in the Underworld Space of Death: Cacao Seeds from an Early Classic Mortuary Cave. Ethnohistory 54:273301.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Bernardino de 2000 Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España. 2nd ed. Glossary and notes by Alfredo López Austin and Josefina Garcia Quintana. Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Bernardino de 2012 Florentine Codex. Book 10, The People. 2nd ed. Translated by Charles E. Dibble and Arthur J. O. Anderson. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Seinfeld, Daniel M 2007 Molecular Archeological Investigations of Olmec Feasting in Ceramics from San Andrés, Tabasco, Mexico. Unpublished M.Sc. thesis, Anthropology Department, Florida State University, Tallahassee.Google Scholar
Sellen, Adam T. 2011 Sowing the Blood With the Maize: Zapotec Effigy Vessels and Agricultural Ritual. Ancient Mesoamerica 22:7189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soleri, Daniela, and Cleveland, David A. 2007 Tejate: Theobroma cacao and T. bicolor in a Traditional Beverage from Oaxaca, Mexico. Food and Foodways 15:107118.Google Scholar
Soleri, Daniela, Cleveland, David A., and Aragón Cuevas, Flavio 2008 Food Globalization and Local Diversity: The Case of Tejate, a Traditional Maizeand Cacao Beverage from Oaxaca, Mexico. Current Anthropology 49:281290. Electronic document, http://es.ucsb.edu/faculty/cleveland/CV/pub.htm, accessed April 30, 2013.Google Scholar
Sotelo, Angela, and Alvarez, Reyna G. 1991 Chemical Composition of Wild Theobroma Species and Their Comparison to the Cacao Bean. Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry 39:19401943.Google Scholar
Sotelo, Angela, Soleri, Daniela, Wacher, Carmen, Sánchez-Chinchillas, Argelia, and María Argote, Rosa 2012 Chemical and Nutritional Composition of Tejate, a Traditional Maize and Cacao Beverage from the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition 67:148155.Google Scholar
Ventura, Carol 1996 The Symbolism of Jakaltek Maya Tree Gourd Vessels and Corn Drinks in Guatemala. Journal of Ethnobiology 16:169183.Google Scholar
Warinner, Christina, García, Nelly Robles, and Tuross, Noreen 2013 Maize, Beans and the Floral Isotopic Diversity of Highland Oaxaca, Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Science 40:868873.Google Scholar
Washburn, Dorothy K., Washburn, William N., and Shipkova, Petia A. 2011 The Prehistoric Drug Trade: Widespread Consumption of Cacao in Ancestral Pueblo and Hohokam Communities in the American Southwest. Journal of Archaeological Science 38:16341640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whalen, Michael E. 1981 Excavations at Santo Domingo Tomaltepec: Evolution of a Formative Community in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Valley of Oaxaca Vol. 6. Memoirs of the Museum of Anthropology Vol. 12. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Wilding, Larry P., and Richard Drees, L. 1971 Biogenic Opal in Ohio Soils 1. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 35:10041010.Google Scholar
Winter, Marcus 1984 Exchange in Formative Highland Oaxaca. In Trade and Exchange in Early Mesoamerica, edited by Kenneth G. Hirth, pp. 179214. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Winter, Marcus 2004 Oaxaca: The Archaeological Record. 2nd ed. Carteles del Sur, Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico.Google Scholar
Winter, Marcus, and Blomster, Jeffrey P. 2008 Religión e interacción: Oaxaca y los olmecas. In Olmeca: balance y perspectivas. Memoria de la Primera Mesa Redonda Vol. 1, edited by María Teresa Uriarte and Rebecca B. González Lauck, pp. 205226. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mãxico, Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, Dirección General de Publicaciones y Fomento Editorial, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Winter, Marcus, Markens, Robert, López, Cira Martínez, and Muzgo Torres, Alicia Herrera 2007 Shrines, Offerings, and Postclassic Continuity in Zapotec Religión. In Commoner Ritual and Ideology in Ancient Mesoamerica, edited by Nancy Gonlin and Jon C. Lohse, pp. 185212. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar