1. Cacao Use in Classic Maya Society
Ella Noyes, Keene State College
Advisors: Dr. W. James Stemp and Dr. Stephen Lucey
Abstract
References
This project will examine the creation and use of
chocolate in Classic Period (250-900CE) Maya
society. The Maya were a Mesoamerican cultural
group who controlled parts of Honduras, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, the Yucatan Peninsula
in Mexico, and other areas of Mexico. The Classic
Period Maya elites used cacao as a beverage in
socio-political ceremonies. Chocolate began, and has
remained, an important symbolic and metaphorical
object in the Maya belief system. We have learned
that cacao is an esteemed beverage for the Maya
through artifacts, iconography, hieroglyphic texts,
and chemical analysis of ceramics found in a Maya
setting. Understanding the use of cacao in the Classic
Period can help us understand its importance in the
modern world.
The Maya
The Maya are a cultural group who lived in
Mesoamerica from 1,000BCE-1521CE. Much of Maya
society was recorded by Spaniards, including Bishop
Diego de Landa, but was translated into non-Mayan
terms so that western Europeans could make sense
of the society they were conquering. Maya politics
and history can be deciphered through the glyphs
they left behind on their ceramics and stelae. The
Maya didn’t use an alphabetic system like we do,
but used logograms and syllable combinations in
order to form words using the glyphs (Kettunen and
Helmke 2008, Coe 2012).
Map of Cacao Producing Regions in Maya World
http://myweb.rollins.edu/jsiry/map-cacao.jpg
Cacao has a unique chemical composition that makes it less difficult
than other compounds to identify in the archaeological record. The
identifying alkaloids in cacao are caffeine and theobromine, which
are native to Mesoamerica only in cacao trees. Theophylline is also
present, but isn’t as strong of an indicator.
http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/x/alkaloids-caffeine-theobromine-theophylline-23518760.jpg
Chemistry of Cacao
Although the Classic Period ranges from 250CE until roughly
900CE, most Classic Maya ceramics that are studied come from
500CE-800CE because there was an increased production of ceramics
throughout the Maya area (Grivetti 2009: 3). The Maya had over
twenty vessel types, but the most common vessel types for cacao
beverages were cylindrical vases, tripod containers, and spouted
vessels (Helmke and Kettunen 2008: 20).
http://blog.hmns.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/pottery-2.jpg
http://blog.hmns.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/pottery.jpg
Ceramics
Coe, Michael D. Breaking the Maya Code. 3rd
Ed.
New York: Thames and Hudson, 2012.
Grivetti, Louis and Howard-Yana Shapiro. Chocolate:
History, Heritage, and Culture. Hoboken: John Wiley
and Sons, 2009
Kettunen, Harri and Helmke, Christophe.
“Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs: Workshop
Handbook.” Lexington: unknown, 2008.
The cacao glyph can also be seen on vessels to
show tribute payments or inventoried amounts of
cacao rulers possessed (Grivetti 2009: 3). The
vessel from the Denver Art Museum depicts a
palace scene showing a prospective suitor
presenting a ruler with three bags of cacao beans,
a cacao drinking vessel, and the cacao glyph
included in the PSS. Ek Chuah (above), the Maya
God of merchants, cacao, and a Lord of the
Underworld, is an important figure in the origins
of cacao.
http://creativity.denverartmuseum.org/wp-
content/uploads/2012/11/Final-Mayan-Chocolate-vessel-
Illustration.jpg
http://blogs.uoregon.edu/mesoinstitute/files/2013/11/
Chocolate-7-op1y2v.jpeg
Iconography
Maya Cacao Glyph
http://albanykid.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/12/Mayan
-Glyph-for-Cocoa.jpg
http://www.worldstandards.eu/images/Ek%20Chuah.jpg
http://creativity.denverartmuseum.org/wp-
content/uploads/2012/11/Final-Mayan-
Chocolate-vessel-Illustration.jpg