Starbucks and Coca-Cola might be relatively recent inventions, but America’s craving for caffeinated beverages dates back at least a millennium, according to a new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
In the study, researchers from the University of New Mexico and their colleagues found that people living in the southwestern US and northwestern New Mexico drank highly caffeinated beverages made out of holly and cacao between 750 and 1,400 AD, CBS News reported.
Lead author and distinguished professor of anthropology Patricia Crown explained that one of the drinks was a cacao-based chocolate drink, while the other was what Native Americans used to call “black drink” and was made out of holly. Both were highly caffeinated, but neither one of the main ingredients grew in the southwest and they were likely obtained through trade routes.
Caffeinated beverages probably were only for the wealthy
There was some trade with Mexico at the time, since that was the closest area from which the population could have obtained cacao, and the presence of scarlet macaws at many sites in the Southwest also indicate that there was an established trade relationship with people living in Mesoamerica, Phys.org added.
The holly, on the other hand, might have originated from either what is now the southern US or from Mexico, Crown explained. Residue found in the ceramic bowls and pitcher sherds makes it hard to find details about the black drink consumed by these people. She added the caffeine was probably consumed as part of ritual or political ceremonies.
Crown and her colleagues used sherds (fragments of pottery) from jars, bowls, and pitchers unearthed at archaeological sites throughout the southwest, CBS News reported, and in all 177 sherds were tested. Of those, 40 were found to contain caffeine. The research team noted that they were careful to test sherds that were in use during different time periods to get a complete picture of the trade practices.
Crown also said it was unlikely that everyone was able to drink these beverages. It “seems likely that elites were probably the ones who were able to acquire it because it was coming from such a distance,” she said. “They might serve it to followers to gain loyalty and alliances. But it seems unlikely that everybody could acquire it or everybody could drink it.”
“If you are going to get the ingredients for these drinks on a regular basis,” she added, “you have to have networks and connections in order to acquire them. It really tells us the people in the southwest had those connections to get them regularly enough to use them in ritual activities.”
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Pictured is cocoa, the base ingredient for chocolate. This was used to make these ancient caffeinated drinks. Image credit: Thinkstock
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