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David Friedel, a professor of anthropology and Maya civilization at Washington University in St. Louis, who did not participate in the study, explains that chocolate was considered a prestigious food and was likely used as currency during that period. The Maya did not use coins as we know them today; rather, their economic system was based on bartering, where goods like tobacco, corn, and clothing were exchanged. According to 16th-century Spanish colonial records, Europeans used cacao beans the primary ingredient in chocolate as a means of paying workers. However, it was unclear whether cacao had been used as currency before the arrival of Europeans.
To verify this hypothesis, archaeologist Joan Baron, a specialist at Bard Early College, analyzed the artwork of the Maya civilization. She focused on research and images from the period between 250 and 900 AD in the southern Maya lowlands, which include parts of Mexico and Central America. Her analysis found that chocolate was a less prominent feature in early artwork but became more common by the 8th century, suggesting that it was used as a form of payment for taxes and services. One of the earliest depictions of chocolate as a medium of exchange dates back to the mid-7th century, where a mural on a pyramid near the Guatemalan border shows a woman offering a bowl containing something resembling hot chocolate to a man in exchange for dough used to make tamales.
In this context, Baron notes that while chocolate was used as a form of exchange, it had not yet become a widely recognized currency. However, later evidence revealed that cacao was indeed used as currency, in the form of fermented and dried cacao beans. Baron documented around 180 ceramic and mural images from 690 to 900 AD that depict goods used as taxes or tributes to rulers, such as tobacco, cacao beans, and woven clothing. Baron points out that this indicates cacao was considered currency, alongside other goods. Some studies suggest that drought may have been a factor in the collapse of the Classic Maya civilization, but Baron believes that the interruption of cacao supplies, which supported political authority, may have led to economic collapse in some instances.
Friedel, however, believes that the increase in depictions of cacao does not necessarily mean it became a more important currency. Art in the Maya civilization represented a significant cultural aspect. Ultimately, Friedel doubts that the loss of cacao beans contributed to the collapse of the Maya civilization, stressing that the collapse of a single commodity like cacao would not likely have caused the entire economic system to fall apart.