Ancient DNA finds evidence of cacao consumption at Georgia site 1,000 years ago

People living at the Etowah site in present-day Georgia were consuming cacao roughly 1,000 years ago, according to a study published in PLOS One. The discovery provides evidence that cacao reached a major Mississippian center east of the Mississippi River centuries before European colonization. Researchers examined residue from three pottery fragments recovered from feasting pits connected with construction of Etowah’s first platform mound. The sherds are approximately 800 to 900 years old, placing their use in the 11th or 12th century. The team sequenced DNA preserved in the residue and compared the results with the cacao genome. Because the residue also contained genetic material from soil bacteria, other plants and possible environmental contaminants, the researchers filtered out DNA that did not come from cacao. Earlier chemical analysis of the same residue had detected caffeine, but that result could not establish that cacao was present. Yaupon holly, a plant native to the region, contains some of the same chemical markers as cacao, including caffeine and theobromine. The DNA evidence provided a more direct indication that the pottery had been used with cacao. Etowah was a large archaeological settlement along the Etowah River, featuring six earthen mounds, a village and plazas across about 54 acres. The site was part of the Mississippian world, a network of societies that developed across much of eastern North America. Since cacao grows in tropical regions, its presence at Etowah indicates that it arrived through contact with communities in or near areas where the plant was cultivated. The researchers suggest that long-distance networks moving goods, people and ideas may have carried it to Georgia, but they cannot determine where the cacao originated or which route it followed. The study’s authors said the finding expands the understanding of how cacao was distributed across the Americas before European colonization. It also distinguishes Etowah from earlier evidence in the American Southwest, where cacao use had been documented, while clear evidence from civilizations east of the Mississippi River had been lacking.