Raise A Cup Of Foaming Cacao: Interaction Between Mesoamerica & South America

In this presentation hosted at the San Diego Archaeological Center, Dr. Jonathan J. Dubois will focus on cacao and the iconography associated with it in the Ancient Americas. Recent studies have demonstrated that cacao was likely domesticated in Northwestern South America at least a millennium before it came into use farther north. Dr. Dubois’ investigations have begun to demonstrate that imagery related to cacao in Mesoamerica also appears more than a millennium earlier in South America, during the Formative (1500-500 BCE). He will discuss the iconographic evidence from both regions and explore the implications of this evidence. Dr. Dubois will conclude with a discussion of an ethnohistoric model for what these earliest long-distance traders may have been – specialists in the ceremonies and traditions surrounding the plants and objects they were trading in. Date | Thursday, September 30 at 6:30 p.m. Location | Online event Register here! There is no registration fee. Donations are encouraged. For more information, please visit the Raise A Cup Of Foaming Cacao lecture page or call (760) 291-0370.