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Anthropology

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Judi Lynn

(162,868 posts)
Sun Jul 8, 2018, 09:14 PM Jul 2018

ANCIENT MAYANS USED CHOCOLATE FOR MONEY [View all]


BY ARISTOS GEORGIOU ON 6/29/18 AT 11:22 AM

The ancient Mayans used cacao beans—the principal ingredient in chocolate—as a currency, according to a study published in the journal Economic Anthropology.

The research suggests that during the Classic Maya period (250-900 CE) cacao was exchanged for goods and services. The Mayans never used coins but are thought to have bartered items such as tobacco, maize and clothing.

Author of the study, Joanne Baron from the Bard Early College Network in New Jersey, said that this period saw the “early monetization of cacao beans and cotton textiles.”

“I argue that these products, originally valued for their use in status display, took on monetary functions within a context of expanding marketplaces among rival Maya kingdoms,” she wrote in the study.

More:
http://www.newsweek.com/ancient-maya-used-chocolate-money-1001513?piano_t=1
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