<P> The first example of chemically tracing cacao was in 1984, when a team of archaeologists in Guatemala explored the Mayan site of Rio Azul . They discovered fifteen vessels surrounding male skeletons in the royal tomb . One of these such vessels was beautifully decorated and covered in various Mayan glyphs . One of these glyphs translated to "kakaw", also known as cacao . The inside of the vessel was lined with a dark colored powder, which was scraped off for further testing . Once the archaeologists took this powder to the Hershey Center for Health and Nutrition to be tested, they found trace amounts of theobromine in the powder, a major indicator of cacao . This cacao was dated to sometime between 460 and 480 AD </P> <P> Cacao powder was also found in beautifully decorated bowls and jars, known at tecomates, in the city of Puerto Escondido . Once thought to have been a very rare commodity, cacao was found in many more tecomates than once thought possible . However since this powder was only found in bowls of higher quality, it led archaeologists to believe that only wealthier people could afford such bowls, and therefore the cacao . The cacao tecomates are thought to have been a center piece to social gatherings between people of high social status . </P> <P> Earliest evidence of domestication of the cacao plant dates to the Olmec culture from the Preclassic period . The Olmecs used it for religious rituals or as a medicinal drink, with no recipes for personal use . Little evidence remains of how the beverage was processed . </P> <P> The Maya people, by contrast, do leave some surviving writings about cacao which confirm the identification of the drink with the gods . The Dresden Codex specifies that it is the food of the rain deity Kon, the Madrid Codex that gods shed their blood on the cacao pods as part of its production . The Maya people gathered once a year to give thanks to the god Ek Chuah who they saw as the Cacao god . The consumption of the chocolate drink is also depicted on pre-Hispanic vases . The Maya seasoned their chocolate by mixing the roasted cacao seed paste into a drink with water, chile peppers and cornmeal, transferring the mixture repeatedly between pots until the top was covered with a thick foam . </P>

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