While I am a historian by training and I do all of my skills and tactics when I'm reading and writing about the history of chocolate, I don't share those types of articles often here on The Chocolate Cult. Unless I find something good. I found a great Smithsonian article about chocolate's history to share with you all today. First please read it then come back to this page where I'm going to pull out some of the most intriguing facts for me from this article.
How cool is it that we can learn about chocolate through material culture, in this case jars?
While I'm familiar with Mayan and Aztec use of chocolate, I only knew a tiny amount of how chocolate spread throughout what we call South, Central, and North American. These Chaco Canyon jars found in the pueblos of New Mexico confirm the trading of chocolate and the use of chocolate. That's awesome, isn't it?
I note how different these jars are in terms of size and decoration compared to what I'm familiar with from Mayan and Aztec cultures.
The treatment of the jars that were found have made the archaeologists say "religion" which as you know if you have been reading about chocolate or at least this blog for 13 years now, has strong ties to the use of cacao but not the only purpose for cacao.
I hope folks check out the podcast that is mentioned in the article, but you can also find it here.
Now you tell me your thoughts on this article or the podcast.
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