Page 28 - AT

A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 31 OctOber 2018
How old is cacao? New research pushes back date

By CANDICE CHOI torian at the University of
NEW YORK (AP) — New Pennsylvania and author of
research strengthens the "Sacred Gifts, Profane Plea-
case that people used the sures: A History of Tobacco
chocolate ingredient ca- and Chocolate in the At-
cao in South America 5,400 lantic World."
years ago, underscoring The chocolate drinks in
the seed's radical transfor- Central America often
mation into today's Twix contained maize and dif-
bars and M&M candies. fer from the hot chocolate
Tests indicate traces of sold in the U.S. They did not
cacao on artifacts from contain milk, Norton said,
an archaeological site in and when they were sweet-
Ecuador, according to a ened, it was with honey.
study published Monday. By the 1580s, cacao was
That's about 1,500 years being regularly imported
older than cacao's known into Spain and spread to
domestication in Central other European countries
America. with milk being added
"It's the earliest site now along the way. It wasn't
with domesticated cacao," until the 1800s that manu-
said Cameron McNeil of facturing advances in the
Lehman College in New Netherlands transformed
York, who was not involved In this April 16, 2015 file photo, a cacao pod hangs from a tree at the Agropampatar chocolate chocolate into a solid prod-
in the research. farm co-op in El Clavo, Venezuela. uct, Norton said.
The ancient South Ameri- Associated Press Michael Laiskonis, who
can civilization likely didn't teaches chocolate classes
use cacao to make choco- today use cacao for fer- from the Santa Ana-La traces as well, but were not the Institute of Culinary Ed-
late since there's no estab- mented drinks and juices, Florida site in Ecuador. One as old. ucation, said he's seeing a
lished history of indigenous and it's probably how it was tested for the presence of How cacao's use spread growing interest in cacao
populations in the region used thousands of years theobromine, a key com- between South America flavors, indicating a return
using it that way, research- ago as well, researchers pound in cacao; another and Central America is to a time when chocolate
ers led by the University of said. tested for preserved parti- not clear. But by the time wasn't just an ingredient
British Columbia in Canada Scientists mostly agree that cles that help archeologists Spanish explorers arrived in buried in a candy bar.
said. cacao was first domesti- identify ancient plant use; Central America in the late He said he tries to incorpo-
But the tests indicate the cated in South America a third used DNA testing to 1400s, they found people rate chocolate's past into
civilization used the cacao instead of Central America identify cacao. were using it to make hot his classes, including a 1644
seed, not just the fruity pulp. as previously believed. The Residue from one ceramic and cold chocolate drinks recipe that combines Ma-
The seeds are the part of study in Nature Ecology & artifact estimated to be with spices, often with a yan and Aztec versions of
the cacao pod used to Evolution provides fresh evi- 5,310 to 5,440 years old test- foamy top. drinks with European influ-
make chocolate. dence. ed positive for cacao by "For most of the modern ences. "It's something that's
Indigenous populations in Three types of tests were all three methods. Others period, it was a beverage," always been transforming,"
the upper Amazon region conducted using artifacts tested positive for cacao said Marcy Norton, a his- he said.q
A look at the science used to

find mail-bomb suspect

Associated Press often point investigators to- adviser at the Giffords Law
A 56-year-old Florida man ward who made and sent Center to Prevent Gun Vio-
was charged Friday in the the explosives. FBI Director lence, recalled working on
nationwide mail-bomb Christopher Wray said Ce- a case in Texas in which a
scare targeting prominent sar Sayoc's fingerprints and dog hair found on electrical
Democrats. Experts had possible DNA were col- tape on the device helped
This image obtained Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018, and provided
by ABC News shows a package addressed to former CIA head predicted that forensic evi- lected from two of the 13 prove who made the
John Brennan and an explosive device that was sent to CNN's dence left behind by the devices. Wray said the fin- bomb. "It will be a treasure
New York office. bomb maker would help gerprints matched a print trove of forensic evidence,"
Associated Press law enforcement track found on one of the pack- said Anthony Roman, a pri-
down a suspect. Here are ages sent to Rep. Maxine vate security and investiga-
some of the issues involved: Waters of California. tions consultant. "As human
EXAMINING THE DEVICES OTHER PHYSICAL EVIDENCE beings, we are filtering off
The innards of the devices Before advances in DNA, our DNA everywhere we
— the type of pipe used, other types of physical evi- walk, everywhere we sit."
the filler and the type of dence often helped au- Experts said DNA or finger-
mechanism designed to thorities. But even some- print evidence does not
set it off — offered all sorts thing as small as a stray hair necessarily steer authorities
of clues. Besides any ge- can help identify a suspect. directly to the perpetrator,
netic material that the al- David Chipman, a retired but is used to verify that the
leged bomber left behind, ATF agent and explosives suspect they have identi-
the materials themselves expert who is now a senior fied is responsible.q