Traders brought Central American cacao to Georgia 1,000 years ago
Archaeologists have discovered chemical traces of cacao in 11th-century potsherds found at the Etowah site in Georgia. This evidence suggests that the Mississippian culture maintained extensive trade networks reaching over 3,000 kilometers to Central America.
Why it matters
It challenges previous assumptions about the scope of pre-colonial trade routes and the cultural sophistication of Mississippian societies.
sweet discovery 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.
14 Etowah as it looks today Credit: Georgia Department of Natural Resources Etowah as it looks today Credit: Georgia Department of Natural Resources Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav A thousand years ago, feasts in what’s now northern Georgia (in the US) included cacao from Central America.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in