ARQUEOLOGIA IBEROAMERICANA - ISSN 1989-4104
Vol. 41 (2019), pp. 30–40 • 628 KB • español
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Cahequa del Rey: Archaeological and Linguistic Evidence of the Use of Cacao in the Late Postclassic of Tzintzuntzan, Michoacan, Mexico

Joshua Lieto, Helen Perlstein Pollard, A. Daniel Jones


Arqueol. Iberoam.


Abstract
The cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) and its seeds have a long and varied history of use in Mesoamerica, reaching back at least as far as the Formative period in the Gulf and Pacific coast regions. This paper considers the use of cacao in Tarascan society during the Late Postclassic period (1350–1522 AD). Using chemical and archaeological evidence, we demonstrate that cacao consumption was associated with the well-known Tarascan spouted vessel form and then contextualize this finding with the aid of linguistic and documentary evidence taken from sixteenth-century Purepecha dictionaries.

Keywords
Tzintzuntzan; cacao; spouted vessels; Purepecha dictionaries.

Cite as
Lieto, J., H. P. Pollard, A. D. Jones. 2019.
Cahequa del Rey: evidencia arqueológica y lingüística del uso del cacao en el Posclásico Tardío de Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán, México. Arqueología Iberoamericana 41: 30-40.

Other Persistent Identifiers

Publication date: January 31, 2019.

Creative Commons License

© 2019 ARQUEOLOGIA IBEROAMERICANA. ISSN 1989-4104. License CC BY 3.0 ES.
Edited & Published by Pascual Izquierdo-Egea. Graus, Spain.
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