Cacao Exchange and Use in the Prehispanic American Southwest

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Patricia Crown博士和Jeffrey Hurst博士将描述美国西南部可可（巧克力）使用的时间和空间范围以及可可交换网络的性质。最近的研究表明，在新墨西哥州查科峡谷普韦布洛博尼托的垃圾沉积物中发现的陶瓷中存在可可残留物，其历史可追溯到公元1000-1125年。这一发现证明了可可这种热带产品在美国西南部的存在。然而，对该地区可可使用情况的了解是有限的，因为只分析了一个遗址的5块碎片，其中3块中发现了可可。可可豆可能在普韦布洛·博尼托之外被广泛交易，特别是与猩红金刚鹦鹉（另一种从公元开始广泛存在于西南部的热带物种）的交换相结合。可可豆可能比普韦布洛·博尼托材料更早或更晚出现。为了确定美国西南部可可使用的程度和可可交换网络的性质，将对来自其他地点和其他时期的陶器进行可可残留物测试。为了了解可可是如何被消费的，还将完成对中美洲可可饮料中传统使用的添加剂（如蜂蜜）的测试。决定测试哪些领域将遵循三个假设。首先，要到达查科，中美洲的交换可能要经过新墨西哥州西南部、亚利桑那州南部，或者沿着里约热内卢格兰德河向上。其次，可可的交换可能伴随着金刚鹦鹉的交换，因为这些生物物种来自相同的热带环境，所以来自金刚鹦鹉遗址的陶器将优先采样。最后，由于新大陆其他地方的可可消费总是涉及特殊的容器形状，因此测试将重点放在特殊的容器形状上，这些容器可能在每个地区都起到饮用容器的作用。高效液相色谱-质谱法将用于检测可可碱的存在，可可碱是一种生物标志物，存在于陶器的浆糊中。对于含有可可碱的样品，将进行额外的测试，以确定可可饮料中的任何其他成分。分析将在核心设施进行，MS好时医疗中心，好时，宾夕法尼亚州。这项研究的学术价值包括评估前西班牙人在美国西南部的可可分布，进一步了解西南地区和中美洲之间的交流关系，以及评估可可在西南地区仪式活动中的广泛使用程度。这项研究将在新墨西哥大学、好时健康与营养中心、好时医学中心和几家为这项研究提供碎片的博物馆之间建立跨学科的互动。研究结果将在大众报刊和学术出版物上广泛传播。此前关于这一课题的研究得到了媒体的广泛关注。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Patricia Crown and Dr. Jeffrey Hurst will characterize the temporal and spatial extent of cacao (chocolate) use and the nature of cacao exchange networks in the American Southwest. Recent research revealed the presence of cacao residues in ceramics from refuse deposits at Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, dated to A.D. 1000-1125. This finding demonstrates the presence of cacao, a tropical product, in the American Southwest. However, knowledge of cacao use in this region is limited by the fact that only five sherds from one site have been analyzed, with cacao recovered from three of those. Cacao may have been widely traded beyond Pueblo Bonito, particularly in conjunction with the exchange in Scarlet Macaws, another tropical species known to be widely present in the Southwest from A.D. Cacao may have been present earlier and later than the Pueblo Bonito materials.To determine the extent of cacao use and the nature of cacao exchange networks in the American Southwest, pottery from other sites and other time periods will be tested for cacao residues. To understand how cacao was consumed, testing will also be completed for additives traditionally used in Mesoamerican cacao drinks, such as honey. Decisions about which areas to test will follow three assumptions. First, to get to Chaco, exchange from Mesoamerica likely followed routes either through southwestern New Mexico, southern Arizona, or up the Rio Grande. Second, exchange in cacao likely accompanied exchange in macaws, because these biological species came from the same tropical environments, so pottery from sites with macaws will be given priority in sampling. Finally, because cacao consumption elsewhere in the New World always involved special vessel shapes, testing will focus on special vessel forms that likely functioned as drinking vessels for each area. High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry will be used to test for the presence of theobromine, a biomarker for Theobroma cacao in the paste of the pottery. For samples with evidence for theobromine, additional testing will be conducted to identify any other components of the cacao beverage. The analysis will be conducted at the Core Facility, MS Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania. The intellectual merit of the research includes assessing the prehispanic distribution of cacao in the American Southwest, furthering knowledge of exchange relationships between the Southwest and Mesoamerica, and evaluating how widespread cacao use might have been in ritual activities in the Southwest. The research will create interdisciplinary interaction between the University of New Mexico, the Hershey Center for Health and Nutrition, the MS Hershey Medical Center, and several museums contributing sherds to this research. The results will be widely disseminated in the popular press and scholarly publications. Previous research on this topic received extensive media attention.