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. 2015 Sep 15;112(37):11436-42.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1511799112. Epub 2015 Sep 8.

Ritual drinks in the pre-Hispanic US Southwest and Mexican Northwest

Patricia L Crown  1 , Jiyan Gu  2 , W Jeffrey Hurst  3 , Timothy J Ward  2 , Ardith D Bravenec  2 , Syed Ali  2 , Laura Kebert  2 , Marlaina Berch  2 , Erin Redman  2 , Patrick D Lyons  4 , Jamie Merewether  5 , David A Phillips  6 , Lori S Reed  7 , Kyle Woodson  8
Affiliations

Ritual drinks in the pre-Hispanic US Southwest and Mexican Northwest

Patricia L Crown et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

Chemical analyses of organic residues in fragments of pottery from 18 sites in the US Southwest and Mexican Northwest reveal combinations of methylxanthines (caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline) indicative of stimulant drinks, probably concocted using either cacao or holly leaves and twigs. The results cover a time period from around A.D. 750-1400, and a spatial distribution from southern Colorado to northern Chihuahua. As with populations located throughout much of North and South America, groups in the US Southwest and Mexican Northwest likely consumed stimulant drinks in communal, ritual gatherings. The results have implications for economic and social relations among North American populations.

Keywords: US Southwest/Mexican Northwest; archaeology; cacao; holly; ritual drinks.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Location of sampled archaeological sites relative to the distribution of T.cacao and I. vomitoria. Cacao distribution data from ref. . I. vomitoria distribution data from esp.cr.usgs.gov/data/little/.
Fig. S1.
Fig. S1.
Chromatograms for 10-ppb standards: (Upper) theobromine; (Lower) caffeine.
Fig. S2.
Fig. S2.
Chromatograms for sample 2060: (Upper) theobromine; (Lower) caffeine.
Fig. S3.
Fig. S3.
Chromatograms for sample 2030: (Upper) theobromine; (Lower) caffeine.
Fig. S4.
Fig. S4.
Chromatograms for sample 2012: (Upper) theobromine; (Lower) caffeine.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Summary of results showing numbers of positive samples from twelve archaeological sites grouped geographically into Ancestral Pueblo (left), Hohokam/southern Arizona (center), and Mogollon Highlands/northern Chihuahua (right).
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Summary of results showing numbers of positive samples grouped temporally by century.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Normalized data for two time periods showing possible increase in use of cacao and decrease in use of I. vomitoria after A.D. 1200.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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