Traders brought Central American cacao to Georgia 1,000 years ago
"We built this city on good cacao" does have a nice ring to it.
A thousand years ago, ancient feasts in northern Georgia featured cacao from Central America. Pottery fragments, discarded after an 11th-century celebration at Etowah, a Mississippian city north of Atlanta, contained traces of cacao. The chemical residue and ancient DNA found in the pottery suggest that the Mississippian people had not only excellent taste but also extensive trade connections spanning over 3,000 kilometers to Central America.
The discovery of Theobroma cacao DNA in the inner surfaces of the ancient pottery fragments indicates that the Mississippian people consumed cacao, which thrives only in tropical regions, implying a transcontinental trade network. The presence of cacao at Etowah highlights the influence of chocolate in shaping the Mississippian culture and the growth of their iconic mounds.
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