Precolumbian Chocolate: Tracing the use of chocolate in Mesoamerica

The research presented in this thesis pertains to chocolate in Precolumbian Mesoamerica, and attempts to trace its use from the earliest known, up to the Colonial era. Chocolate beverages have proven to be inherent to Mesoamerican culture, much like the region’s large scale ceremonial architecture, and its ball games. Questions like: What were the first beverages like? and: How was the ‘chocolate culture’ embedded in Precolumbian Mesoamerica? are examined using a historical-ecological approach. Historical ecology studies the interrelationship between humans and nature, an analogue applied to culture and chocolate. This has translated to having historical sources and etymological interpretations employed to contextualize paleoethnobotanical data, in an effort to construct a chronological overview of the use of Precolumbian chocolate. In the quest for the evolutionary course of cacao cultivation, the premise that not evolutionary, but historical happenings are accountable for the...Show moreThe research presented in this thesis pertains to chocolate in Precolumbian Mesoamerica, and attempts to trace its use from the earliest known, up to the Colonial era. Chocolate beverages have proven to be inherent to Mesoamerican culture, much like the region’s large scale ceremonial architecture, and its ball games. Questions like: What were the first beverages like? and: How was the ‘chocolate culture’ embedded in Precolumbian Mesoamerica? are examined using a historical-ecological approach. Historical ecology studies the interrelationship between humans and nature, an analogue applied to culture and chocolate. This has translated to having historical sources and etymological interpretations employed to contextualize paleoethnobotanical data, in an effort to construct a chronological overview of the use of Precolumbian chocolate. In the quest for the evolutionary course of cacao cultivation, the premise that not evolutionary, but historical happenings are accountable for the changing dynamics in the interaction between human culture and all ecosystems, is applied. This entails that theoretically, the domestication and cultivation processes of cacao must be relatable to historical events of Precolumbian Mesoamerica. The aim to trace the use of chocolate, and with that the cultivation processes of its key ingredient, is scoped through the lens of theoretical postulates based on the aforementioned historical-ecological premise.Show less

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Precolumbian Chocolate: Tracing the use of chocolate in Mesoamerica