Scientists believe the first cacao beverages were sipped from vessels like this one, which was found in northern Honduras.

New analyses of similar pottery fragments suggest people have been enjoying chocolate for more than 3,000 years—about 500 years earlier than previously believed

In the News . . .

• How to Cook Like a Caveman -- NewScientist (03 May 2012)
  
  
• Must Farm Bronze Age Site: The Finds -- Past Horizons (02 April 2012)
  
  
• Deciphered Ancient Tablet Reveals Curse of Greengrocer -- Live Science (21 December 2011)
  
  
• Disappearance of the Elephant Caused Rise of Modern Humans: Dietary Change Led to Modern Humans in Middle East 400,000 Years Ago -- ScienceDaily (12 December 2011)
  
  
• Ötzi the Iceman's Stomach Throws Up a Surprise -- NewScientist (12 December 2011)
  
  
• Bronze Age Man's Lunch: A Spoonful of Nettle Stew -- Past Horizons (04 December 2011)
  
  
• Evidence of animals introduced to prehistoric Caribbean -- Past Horizons (06 December 2011)
  
  
• Chimpanzees Self-Medicate With Food -- Discovery News (29 November 2011)
  • Why Chimps Eat Dead Wood and Other Plants -- Discovery News (29 November 2011)
    
• Fish and Birds Gave Neanderthals Fine Dining -- New Scientist (29 October 2011)
  
  
• Food Remains in Ancient Cooking Pots Suggest Farming Caught on Slowly -- Guardian (24 October 2011)
  
  
• Shipwrecks, Amphora and DNA Offer Clues to Ancient Trade -- Past Horizons (23 October 2011)
  
  
• Early Hominid Diets: Challenged by New Technologies -- Past Horizons (15 October 2011)
  
  
• Ancient Greek Ships Carried More Than Just Wine -- Nature (14 October 2011)
  
  
• The Iceman's Last Meal: Goat -- Science News (22 August 2011)
  
  
• Man Entered the Kitchen 1.9 Million Years Ago -- Live Science (22 August 2011)
  
  
• Evolution and Domestication of Seed Structure Shown to Use Same Genetic Mutation -- ScienceDaily (07 July 2011)
  
  
• The Beer Archaeologist -- Abigail Tucker, Smithsonian (August 2011)
  
  
• Ancient Chinese Cooled Foods With Ice -- Epoch Times (28 June 2011)
  
  
• Prehistoric BBQ Leftovers Found -- DiscoveryNews (27 June 2011)
  
  
• The Iceman's Last Meal -- Science (20 June 2011)
  
  
• Farmers Were Genetic Breeders 10,000 Years Ago -- NewScientist (06 June 2011)
  
  
• Herculaneum sewer sheds light on secrets of Roman life -- BBCNews (15 June 2011)
  
  
• Iron-Age brewing evidence found in southeastern France -- BBCNews (15 June 2011)
  
  
• Archaeologists Unravel the Origins of Architecture -- Past Horizons (11 May 2011)
  
  
• Human arrival 'wiped out' Hawaii's unique crabs -- BBC News (17 May 2011
  
  
• Patterns of Ancient Croplands Give Insight Into Early Hawaiian Society, Research Shows -- ScienceDaily (16 May 2011)
  
  
• Neanderthal Palaeodiet Was Dependant on Habitat -- Past Horizons (07 May 2011)
  
  
• Rice traced to single domestication event in China -- BBC News (03 May 2011
  
  
• No Nuts for 'Nutcracker Man': Early Human Relative Apparently Chewed Grass Instead -- ScienceDaily (03 May 2011)
  
  
• Prehistoric Americans Traded Chocolate for Turquoise? -- National Geographic News (29 March 2011)
  
  
• Earliest Evidence for Magic Mushroom Use in Europe -- NewScientist (06 March 2011)
  
  
• Island Tool Finds Show Early Settlers' Diversity -- BBCNews (04 March 2011)
• This seafood buffet was held 11,000 years ago -- MSNBC (03 March 2011)
  
  
• Northern Hunters Slowed Down Advance of Neolithic Farmers -- EurekAlert (03 February 2011)
• Oldest Domesticated Dog in Americas Found—Was Human Food -- National Geographic News (17 January 2011)
• Ancient Farmers Swiftly Spread Westward -- Discovery News (10 January 2011)
  
  
• 2,400-Year-Old Pot of Soup Unearthed in China -- Discovery News (13 December 2010)
• Chinese Archaeologists Unearth 2,400-Year-Old 'Soup' -- BBC News (13 December 2010)
• Wild Food Crop Relatives to Be 'Rescued' -- BBC News (10 December 2010)
• Chinese Noodle Dinner Buried for 2,500 Years -- Discovery News (19 November 2010)
• Migrants from the Near East 'Brought Farming to Europe' -- BBC News (10 November 2010)
• Mayans Converted Wetlands to Farmland -- Nature (05 November 2010)
• Headless Gladiators Had Exotic Origins -- Discovery News (05 November 2010)
• 30,000-Year-Old Flour Finding Suggests Cavemen Craved Carbs -- Live Science (19 October 2010)
• Cavemen Ground Flour, Prepped Veggies: Evidence suggests that human ancestors made bread and soups from cattail flour 30,000 years ago -- Discovery News (18 October 2010)
• Bread was around 30,000 years ago -study -- Yahoo!News (18 October 2010)
• Human Ancestors Hunted by Prehistoric Beasts: Early humans appear to have occupied a much lower link of the food chain than their modern counterparts -- DiscoveryNews (12 October 2010)
• A Chip Off the Early Hominin Tooth: Researchers Develop Method for Determining the Diet of Our Early Ancestors -- ScienceDaily (16 September 2010)
• Ancient DNA Reveals Ingredients of Roman Medicine -- Nature (09 September 2010)
• Why cavemen could hold the key to healthy eating -- Jess Halliday, FOODnavigator.com, 20 September 2010
• Ancient Sorcerer's "Wake" Was First Feast for the Dead? -- National Geographic News (30 August 2010)
• First Clear Evidence of Organized Feasting by Early Humans -- ScienceDaily (30 August 2010)
• Ancient Bakery Found in Egyptian Desert -- Discovery News (25 August 2010)
• What the Locals Ate 10,000 Years Ago -- ScienceDaily (23 August 2010)
• Sting in the Tail of Farming Revolution [an interview with Dr Spencer Wells, re Pandora's Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization (NY: Random House, 2010) -- BBC News (07 June 2010)
  • Seeds of destruction? -- Minnesota Public Radio NewsQ intervie

• Top Food Was Olives in Time of the Ancient Mariner -- Reuters (12 August 2010)
• Ancient Humans May Have Dined on Hyenas -- Discovery News (18 June 2010)
• Tracking the True Tale of Turkeys -- EurekAlert (11 June 2010)
• Crocodile and Hippopotamus Served as 'Brain Food' for Early Human Ancestors -- ScienceDaily (10 June 2010)
• Revealing the Ancient Chinese Secret of Sticky Rice Mortar -- ScienceDaily (01 June 2010)
• The World's First Fish Supper [ca. 1.95 mya] -- Science (01 June 2010)
• Fossils Suggest Menu That Made Humans Possible -- Wired (01 June 2010)
• Cows Are Key to 2,500 Years of Human Progress -- Guardian (04 April 2010)
• Stone Age Scandinavians Unable to Digest Milk, Study Shows -- Science Daily (01 April 2010)
• Traces of Early Native Americans -- In Sunflower Genes -- Science Daily (03 April 2010)
• Onions Made Pre-Human Ancestors Cry Too, Study Suggests -- LiveScience (19 March 2010)
• Bonobos Opt to Share Their Food -- BBC News (08 March 2010)
• Steak Dinners Go Back 2.5 Million Years -- MSNBC (09 February 2010)
• Native Americans tamed turkeys in 800 B.C. -- MSNBC (01 February 2010)
• Stable Climate and Plant Domestication Linked -- Science Daily (13 Janary 2010)
• Neanderthals Enjoyed Surf and Turf Meals -- Discovery News (12 January 2010)
• Stonehenge Bones May Be Evidence of Winter Solstice Feasts -- Guardian (20 December 2009)
• Stone Age Campers Set Up Separate Activity Areas -- ScienceNews (17 December 2009)
• Exploring the Stone Age Pantry -- EurekAlert (17 December 2009)
• Century-Old Butter Found in Antarctica -- DiscoveryNews (16 December 2009)
• Eight ancient drinks uncorked by science -- msnbc (15 December 2009)
• Maize Was Passed from Group to Group of Southwestern Hunter-Gatherers, Study Suggests -- ScienceDaily (08 December 2009)
• French Farmers Civilised Britain -- Telegraph (03 December 2009)
• Contested Signs of Mass Cannibalism -- Science News (03 December 2009)
• Cavemen Roasted Birds, Too: Although the first Thanksgiving was held in 1621, humans were roasting birds long before then -- Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News (25 November 2009)
  -- Story in Photos
• Maya Murals Give Rare View of Everyday Life -- LiveScience (09 November 2009)
• Early Humans Skipped Fruit, Went for Nuts -- Discovery News (09 November 2009)
• 200,000-year-old Cut Of Meat: Archaeologists Shed Light On Life, Diet And Society Before The Delicatessen -- Science Daily (15 October 2009)
• Edmonton archeological dig uncovers old campsite and possibly...soup -- Canwest News Service (13 October 2009)
• Penn archaeologist recreates ancient brews -- Philadelphia Inquirer (13 October 2009)
• Study Reasserts East Asian Origin for Dogs -- Science (01 September 2009)
• 'Taste test' for Neanderthal DNA -- BBC News (11 August 2009)
• Did Cooking Give Humans An Evolutionary Edge? -- NPR (28 August 2009)
• Central Europeans Were First Adults to Drink Milk -- New Scientist (28 August 2009)
• Milk Drinking Started Around 7,500 Years Ago In Central Europe -- ScienceDaily (27 August 2009)
• Early Human Hunters Had Fewer Meat-sharing Ritual -- Science Daily (18 August 2009)
• Dog Domestication Likely Began in Africa -- Discovery News (03 August 2009)
• Europe's 1st Farmers Were Segregated, Expert Immigrants -- National Geographic News (03 September 2009)
• Ancient Man Hurt Coasts, Paper Says -- New York Times (20 August 2009)
• Was ancient Cypriot cave a prehistoric diner? -- Reuters\Yahoo News (19 August 2009)
• 3,000-year-old butter found in Kildare bog -- Leinster Leader, Kildare Today (19 August 2009)
• Early Farmers 'Began Global Warming Process' -- Telegraph (17 August 2009)
• Neanderthals Likely Didn't Like Brussels Sprouts -- Discovery News (13 August 2009)
• 'Taste Test' for Neanderthal DNA -- BBC News (11 August 2009)
• Neandertals Led Bitter Lives -- Science (12 August 2009)
• Seafood Gave Us the Edge on the Neanderthals -- New Scientist (12 August 2009)
• Early Human Hunters Had Fewer Meat-sharing Rituals -- ScienceDaily (12 August 2009)
• Pre-Stonehenge House Reveals Domestic Life [including eating lots of hazelnuts] -- Discovery News (11 August 2009)
• Cannibal Theory Over Early Briton -- BBC News (07 August 2009)
• Cannibalism Theory Over Bone-Find -- BBC News (07 August 2009)
• Ancient Humans Left Evidence From The Party That Ended 4,000 Years Ago -- ScienceDaily (21 July 2009)
• DNA Of Ancient Lost Barley Could Help Modern Crops Cope With Water Stress -- ScienceDaily (21 July 2009)
• Neanderthals Made Mammoth Jerky -- Jennifer Viegas, Discovery (23 June 2009)
• Maize May Have Fueled Ancient Andean Civilization: Prehistoric skeletons yield evidence that farming of crop led to the rise of an early state society -- Science News (08 July 2009)
• The Last Supper Of The Hominids [Homo heidelbergensis] Establishes The Times They Lived At The Sites -- ScienceDaily (14 July 2009)
• First Direct Evidence Of Substantial Fish Consumption By Early Modern Humans In China -- ScienceDaily (06 July 2009)
• Humans Ate Fish 40,000 Years Ago -- LiveScience (07 July 2009)
• '10,000-Year-Old' Seeds Debunked-- BBC News (09 July 2009)
• Ancient primate sniffed out dinner in the trees -- MSNBC (22 June 2009)
• Chimps Mentally Map Fruit Trees -- BBC News (08 June 2009)
• Ancestors May Have Used Bone Tools to Make Smoothies -- New Scientist (22 April 2009)
• 1st Farm in Eastern U.S. Grown for Taste, Not Hunger? -- National Geographic (8 April 2009)
• High-tech Tests Allow Anthropologists To Track Ancient Hominids Across The Landscape -- Science Daily (13 February 2009)
• Dental Analytics Describe Evolution of Human Diet -- NewsWise (13 February 2009)
• Dirty Teeth Reveal Ancient Peruvians Ate Well -- Discovery News (2008-12-02)
  • Evidence From Dirty Teeth: Ancient Peruvians Ate Well -- Science Daily (2008-12-03)
• Oldest Marijuana Stash Found -- Discovery News (2008-12-03)
• Ew! Bad Teeth Reveal What Ancients Ate -- MSNBC (2008-12-01)
• Of Neanderthals and dairy farmers -- Harvard University Gazette (11 December 2008)
• Fish Sauce Used to Date Pompeii Eruption -- Discovery News (9/29/08)
• Fish Sauce Used to Date Pompeii Destruction -- MSNBC (9/29/08)
• Stone-Age Pilgrims Trekked Hundreds of Miles to Attend Feasts --Guardian (9/11/08)
• Stonehenge Partiers Came From Afar, Cattle Teeth Show -- National Geographic News (9/12/08)
• Stone Age Milk Use Began 2,000 Years Earlier -- National Geographic News (8/6/08)
• Love of Milk Dated Back to 6000 B.C. -- LiveScience (8/6/08)
• Early Europeans Quickly Got a Taste for Milk -- New Scientist (8/12/08)

From Anthroplogy in the News, Texas A&M
(12 May 2008)

Earliest Known American Settlers Harvested Seaweed National Geographic News (5/8/08)

• Early Americans Had a Coastal Diet Nature (5/8/08)
• First Americans Lived on Seaweed Diet Telegraph (5/8/08)
• New Evidence from Earliest Known Human Settlement in the Americas Supports Coastal Migration Theory Exploration, Vanderbilt's Online Research Magazine (5/8/08)
• Ancient Beachcombers May Have Travelled Slowly NSF (5/8/08)
• Ancient Seaweed Chews Confirm Age of Chilean Site Reuters (5/8/08)
• Seaweed Clears Up Ancient American Mystery MSNBC (5/8/08/08)
• First Americans Thrived on Seaweed New Scientist (5/8/08)
• Ancient Seaweed Tells of Earliest Americans Discovery (5/8/08)
• New Evidence from Earliest Known Human Settlement in the Americas EurekAlert (5/9/08)
• Ancient Beachcombers May Have Travelled Slowly EurekAlert (5/9/08)
• Seaweed Confirms Monte Verde Village in Chile Is Among Oldest in the Americas Los Angeles Times (5/10/08)
• New Evidence From Earliest Known Human Settlement In The America Science Daily (5/9/08)

• Important archaeological sites
  
  
  • Tehuacán, Mexico
    • Stages

ANTH 3888 su2012 ANTH 1604 su2012  to top of page / A-Z index

• Bibliography / Useful Information
  
  
  (see also Food Bibliography)
  
  
  • Online
    
    
    • Americans Cultivated And Traded Chili Peppers 6,000 Years Ago -- Science Daily (Feb. 16, 2007)
    • Agropolis Museum, food & agricultures of the world
    • Ancient Chinese Rice Archaeological Project -- Bryan Gordon
    • Ancient Farm Discovery Yields Clues to Maya Diet -- National Geographic (20 August 2007)
    • Ancient Human Hair May Be Key To Understanding Diet Of Ancient Civilizations -- Science Daily (Oct. 26, 1998)
    • Archaeology: Food and Diet -- CyberPursuits
    • Archaeological evidence for food plants from the British Isles -- Philippa Tomlinson and Allan R. Hall
    • Archaeological evidence of teosinte domestication from Guilá Naquitz, Oaxaca -- Bruce F. Benz
    • Archaeological Remains of Middens and Rubbish Dumps -- New Zealand Historic Places Trust Pouhere Taonga
    • Archaeology of Maize -- jlv2@infomagic.net
    • ASU genetics research sheds light on evolution of the human diet -- EurekAlert (2009-02-12)
    • Biblical diet 'not very healthy' -- BBCNews (13 January 2009)
    • Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart -- LiveScience (8/11/08)
    • Diet and the evolution of the earliest human ancestors -- Mark F. Teafor and Peter S. Ungar, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) (4 August 2000)
    • Earliest Signs Of Corn As Staple Food Found After Spreading South From Mexican Homeland -- Science Daily (25 March 2008)
    • Europeans' sweet tooth may have been survival trait -- Ewen Callaway, New Scientist (26 June 2009)
    • Evidence From Dirty Teeth: Ancient Peruvians Ate Well -- Science Daily
    • The Evolution Of Human Diet -- Science Daily (04 January 2007)
    • Exploring Human Evolution, Nutrition & Health -- Paleobiotics Lab
    • First Ancient Manioc Fields In Americas Discovered -- Science Daily (24 Auguest 2007)
    • Food Archaeology -- Food & Culture Encyclopedia
    • The earliest archaeological maize (Zea mays L.) from highland Mexico -- D. R. Piperno and K. V. Flannery
    • Food Archaeology -- Foodie's Corner
    • The Food Timeline – Lynne Olver, Morris County Library NJ
    • Genetics Research Sheds Light On Evolution Of The Human Diet -- ScienceDaily (2009-02-12)
    • History of Horticulture, Purdue University
    • Human Ancestors: More Gatherers Than Hunters --TerraDaily (13 November 2007)
    • Humans took 1000 years to tame wild plants -- Science Online (23 April 2004)
    • Introduction to the Paleolithic Diet -- Ben Balzer, Earth360
    • Maize (Corn) May Have Been Domesticated In Mexico As Early As 10,000 Years Ago -- Science Daily (6/30/08)
    • Maize May Have Fueled Ancient Andean Civilization [Wari]: Prehistoric skeletons yield evidence that farming of crop led to the rise of an early state society -- Science News (08 July 2009)
    • Meat vs. Potatoes: What Our Chimp Ancestors Liked -- LiveScience (13 November 2007)
    • Millet noodles in Late Neolithic China -- Nature (12 October 2005)
    • Moche Foodways Archaeological Project: 1997-2000 -- Northern Arizona University
    • Museum of cooking implements -- Michigan State University
    • Neanderthal diet at Vindija and Neanderthal predation: The evidence from stable isotopes -- Michael P. Richards, Paul B. Pettitt, Erik Trinkaus, Fred H. Smith, Maja Paunovi, and Ivor Karavani
    • Neanderthal man cleaned his teeth, experts find -- Reuters India (20 September 2007)
    • Neanderthals Made Mammoth Jerky -- Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News (23 June 2009)
    • Neglected Crops 1492 From a Different Perspective, FAO
    • New World foods: introduced to Europe by the Columbian Exchange
    • Novel Technique Offers New Look At Ancient Diet Dogma -- Science Daily (Aug. 3, 2005)
    • Of Cereal and Civilization -- Archaeology: Interviews -- Archaeology
    • "Oldest noodles unearthed in China" -- BBC News (12 October 2005)
    • Olives and People, Past and Present -- Archaeology: Interviews -- Archaeology
    • Origins and Evolution of Human Diet -- Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences
    • Papua New Guineans among world's first farmers -- Science Online (14 Mar 2006)
    • Paleobiotics Lab
    • Paleolithic diet -- David Helwig, BNET Healthcare
    • The Paleolithic Diet and Its Modern Implications -- Robert Crayhon, Mercola.com
    • Plants of the Bible -- Dr. Lytton John Musselman, Old Dominion University
    • Practice Of Farming Reaches Back Farther Than Thought -- Science Daily (Feb. 20, 2007)
    • Prehistoric food processing techniques -- Zhou-Lin Sung
    • Sacred plants of the Maya forest -- Matt Walker, EarthNews, BBC (5 June 2009)
    • Springer Science+Business Media. "Iceman Oetzi's Last Supper" -- ScienceDaily (2 December 2008)
    • Stable isotope evidence for increasing dietary breadth in the European mid-Upper Paleolithic -- Michael P. Richards, Paul B. Pettitt, Mary C. Stiner, and Erik Trinkaus
    • Stone Age Beer -- Larry Gallagher and Andrew Hetherington, Discover (22 November 2005)
    • Stone Age Europeans ate frogs' legs -- Science Online (27 June 2007)
    • Stone Age humans ate porridge on holiday -- Science Online (28 Jun 2004)
    • Temperate Old World Archaeological Botany -- Ann Butler
    • Was ancient Cypriot cave a prehistoric diner? -- Reuters\Yahoo News (19 August 2009)

ANTH 3888 su2012 ANTH 1604 su2012  to top of page / A-Z index

• Print
  
  
  • Brears, Peter, Maggie Black, Gill. Corbishley, Jane Renfrew, and Jennifer Stead (eds). A Taste of History: 10,000 Years of Food in Britain. English Heritage in Association with British Museum Press, London, 1993.
    
    
  • Brothwell, Don R., and Patricia Brothwell. Food in Antiquity: A Survey of the Diet of Early People. London: Thames & Hudson, 1969. (The Johns Hopkins University Press; Expanded edition, 1997.)
    
    
  • Cohen, Mark Nathan. The Food Crisis in Prehistory: Overpopulation and the Origins of Agriculture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977.
    
    
  • Mathews, Jennifer P. Chicle: The Chewing Gum of the Americas, From the Ancient Maya to William Wrigley. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 2009.
    
    
  • Coe, Sophie D. America's First Cuisines. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1994.
    
    
  • Coe, Sophie D., and Michael D. Coe. The True History of Chocolate, Second Edition. London: Thames & Hudson, 2007.
    
    
  • Cohen, Mark Nathan. Food Crisis in Prehistory. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977.
    
    
  • Cordain, Loren. The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Food You Were Designed to Eat. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2002.
    
    
  • Crane, Eva. The Archaeology of Beekeeping. Ithaca: Cornelll University Press, 1983.
    
    
  • Eaton, S. Boyd, M. Shostak, and M. Konner. The Paleolithic Prescription: A Program of Diet and Exercise and a Design for Living. NY: Harper & Row, 1988.
    
    
  • Gordon, K. D. "Evolutionary Perspetives on Human Diet." In Nutritional Anthropology, ed. by F. E. Johnson. NY: A. R. Liss, 1987, pp. 3-39.
    
    
  • Gosden, Chris and Jon G. Hather. The Prehistory of Food: Appetites for Change. Routledge, 1999.
    
    
  • Gremillion, Kristen J. Ancestral Appetites: Food in Prehistory. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
    
    
  • Halstead, Paul and John C. Barrett. Food, Cuisine and Society in Prehistoric Greece. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2005.
    
    
  • Johannessen, Sissel, and Christine Ann Hastorf. Corn and Culture in the Prehistoric New World. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994.
    
    
  • Jones, Sharyn. Food and Gender in Fiji. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, Roman & Littlefield, 2009.
    
    
  • Mangelsdorf, Paul C. Corn: Corn: Its Origin, Evolution and Improvement. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Presss, 1974.
    
    
  • Paleolithic diet -- Wikipedia
    
    
  • Wells, Spencer. Pandora's Seed. NY: Random House, 2010.
    
    • Seeds of destruction? -- Minnesota Public Radio NewsQ interview