01/09/2024
Discover the Montegrande Huaca, where the oldest cacao in history was found ✨🔍
The civilization that built the temples in Peru (Montegrande) and Ecuador (Palanda) is more than five thousand years old and is thought to be the birthplace of cacao 🫕.
32 carbon-14 datings were carried out in the monuments found in Peru and Ecuador and the results revealed the presence of a fermented beverage made from Theobroma cacao, challenging the long-held belief that this fruit originated in the Mesoamerican region, associated with the Olmecs. “Archaeological evidence suggests that traces of cacao can be found in the upper part of the binational Chinchipe-Marañón basin, dating back 2,000 years before the Olmecs; that is, 5,500 years ago. This makes it the oldest cacao in the world,” said Olivera, a Peruvian archaeologist.
He argued that “according to research, cacao was in a wild state in the Amazon, and what we seek is to identify when it was domesticated. This is a fundamental process because cacao is vital for rituals and is present between the most important elements of our cultures: stone, gold, lapis lazuli, the Spondylus shell necklace, among others. We are now investigating a model found in the Huaca de la Luna, where Amazonian figures are depicted carrying a large cacao pod.”
The Montegrande Huaca, shown in the photos, is over 5,300 years old and represents the first monumental architecture in the Amazon dedicated to religious worship and veneration 🙏 It consists of a large stone spiral, 400 meters in diameter, around which a large number of archaeological remains, such as ceramics, stone grinding tools, artifacts and human burials have been found.
The spiral is the oldest and most universal symbol in human history, and its meaning is linked to the beginning and end of life 🌀. These findings revive Julio C. Tello’s theories about the Amazonian origins of Peruvian culture and demonstrate that complex societies existed in the upper Amazon, as seen in the spatial occupation logic and the design and construction of temples, such as Montegrande.
