The Mayborn Museum needs more help from the Maya Web Adventurers! Are you ready for the next adventure?
The Mayborn Museums summer exhibit, Encounters with the Maya, explores the culture of the Ancient Maya.
The Maya originated around 3,000 years ago in present-day Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and Mexico.
Do you like chocolate?
We make chocolate from a plant that originates in Central America, the homeland of the Ancient Maya.
In this web quest, you must discover what you can about this plant.
"The earliest known use of cacao––the source of our modern day chocolate––has been pushed back more than 500 years, to somewhere between 1400 and 1100 B.C.E., thanks to new chemical analyses of residues extracted from pottery excavated at an archaeological site at Puerto Escondido in Honduras."
source: Penn Museum
Let's take a look.
An unopened cacao pod
The inside of a cacao pod
Click the picture to open the cacao pod
"… a tropical plant that thrives only in hot, rainy climates. It is grown worldwide in tropical rainforests within 20° latitude of the equator in such places as Brazil, Venezuela, and Ecuador in South America; The Ivory Coast and Ghana in West Africa; and Indonesia in Southeast Asia. Where the beans grow determines the flavor characteristics of the cocoa–all beans are not the same."
source: Ghirardelli
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The Maya word cacao comes from Mixe-Zoquean, the language believed to have been used by the Olmec, one of the earliest cultures of ancient Mesoamerica. This suggests that the Olmec, more than 3,000 years ago, had developed a taste for the zesty beverage made from the seeds of the cacao tree. In addition to linguistic evidence for the antiquity of cacao consumption, recent chemical analysis of residue found in spouted ceramic vessels from a Maya tomb at Colha, Belize, dating to 600 BCE, revealed traces of theobromine and caffeine, two of the major components of cacao.
"Into a deep pot, break 1 tablet Mexican chocolate. Add 1 cup water (use milk if you must, but the more traditional ingredient is water). Heat the water to boiling, stirring the chocolate until it melts. The result will be somewhat grittier than other chocolate drinks. Add, to taste, cinnamon, a vanilla bean, and a small piece of chili. Stir in a teaspoonful or more of masa, the corn meal used to make tortillas."
source: Penn Museum
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Archaeologists say they have found traces of 2,500-year-old chocolate on a plate in the Yucatan peninsula, the first time they have found ancient chocolate residue on a plate rather than a cup, suggesting it may have been used as a condiment or sauce with solid food.
You are now a Mayborn Museum Maya Adventurer. Enter your name and town below to claim your official Mayborn Maya Adventurer's certificate. Certificates can be picked up at the front ticketing desk at the museum starting August 21, 2012.
Ask for your certificate at the front ticketing desk. We hope you had fun learning about the Maya. Be sure to visit the museum to learn more about the Maya and see our Summer 2012 exhibit, Encounters with the Maya on display June 23 - September 23, 2012.
