History of Cacao: Part 3 — Cacao in Early Mesoamerica
Long before the great Maya courts, cacao was already being poured into vessels in southern Mexico and Central America. Its early Mesoamerican history emerges from settlements spread between the Pacific coast, the Gulf lowlands, and the river valleys of northern Honduras.
The vessels survive in fragments. Inside their clay, traces of cacao preserve encounters between a tropical fruit and the people who prepared and served it.
Along The Pacific Coast
At Paso de la Amada, in present-day Chiapas, a neckless jar dated to approximately 1900–1500 BCE contained cacao residues. The settlement belonged to the Mokaya world of the southern Pacific coast. Farther east, at El Manatí near Mexico’s Gulf Coast, another vessel dated to about 1650–1500 BCE also tested positive for cacao. [1]
These finds place cacao in more than one early community. The story unfolds across different landscapes, before the later Maya cities and the Mexica capital of Tenochtitlan.
The Vessels Of San Lorenzo
In southern Veracruz, San Lorenzo became a major Olmec center. Excavations on its central plateau and residential terraces recovered pottery from domestic and ceremonial settings. [1]
A study of 156 pottery samples from San Lorenzo and nearby Loma del Zapote identified cacao in 27. The earliest positive sample belonged to the period 1800–1600 BCE. Other positive vessels extended the record through 1000 BCE. [1]
The objects included bottles, bowls, a cup, and large jars. Together they reveal a sequence of activities: storing, preparing, serving, and consuming cacao. It belonged to the material life of the settlement, appearing in vessels with different shapes and functions. [1]
A Village In The Ulúa Valley
Farther southeast, Puerto Escondido stood in the fertile lower Ulúa Valley of present-day Honduras. Here, chemical traces of cacao survived in pottery from a village whose connections reached beyond its own valley. [2]
Cacao-bearing vessels include examples from the Ocotillo phase, approximately 1400–1100 BCE. Their rounded bodies and narrow openings were suited to holding and pouring liquids. Researchers John Henderson, Rosemary Joyce, and their colleagues proposed that some of these early drinks were fermented from the sweet pulp surrounding the seeds. [2]
The pottery also records relationships between communities. Ocotillo vessels shared features with pottery from the Pacific regions of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. Serving cacao was part of a world in which objects, practices, and social connections crossed considerable distances. [2]
Before The Familiar Chocolate Story
A jar on the Pacific coast, a bottle in the Gulf lowlands, fragments in a Honduran village: together, these discoveries bring cacao’s early Mesoamerican world into view.
The next chapter follows cacao into Maya life, from households to gatherings and the vessels people left behind.
Sources
Cover pottery forms draw on the San Lorenzo vessels published in Powis et al., figure 4; reference photographs by Rogelio Santiago, San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán Archaeological Project. The cover is an original illustration.
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