AI Article Synopsis
- Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) is an economically significant crop, with its domestication history and early uses still not fully understood.
- Studies show that while Mesoamerica is traditionally seen as the birthplace of cacao, genetic evidence indicates that the upper Amazon in northwest South America has the highest diversity of cacao, suggesting it may be the origin.
- Recent archaeological findings from a site in southeast Ecuador reveal the earliest known use of cacao, dating back about 5,300 years, indicating this region as the first known centre of cacao domestication in the Americas.
Article Abstract
Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) is an important economic crop, yet studies of its domestication history and early uses are limited. Traditionally, cacao is thought to have been first domesticated in Mesoamerica. However, genomic research shows that T. cacao's greatest diversity is in the upper Amazon region of northwest South America, pointing to this region as its centre of origin. Here, we report cacao use identified by three independent lines of archaeological evidence-cacao starch grains, absorbed theobromine residues and ancient DNA-dating from approximately 5,300 years ago recovered from the Santa Ana-La Florida (SALF) site in southeast Ecuador. To our knowledge, these findings constitute the earliest evidence of T. cacao use in the Americas and the first unequivocal archaeological example of its pre-Columbian use in South America. They also reveal the upper Amazon region as the oldest centre of cacao domestication yet identified.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0697-x | DOI Listing |
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