A 1996 academic history by Sophie D. Coe, a food historian, and Michael D. Coe, a Yale archaeologist and Maya epigrapher, tracing chocolate from its origins as a ritual and elite drink among the Olmec, Maya and Aztec through the Spanish conquest to the modern industrial product. It documents cacao's attested ceremonial, medicinal and currency roles in Classic Maya and Aztec society from archaeological, iconographic and colonial documentary sources, and it is the standard scholarly reference for what is and is not established about pre-Columbian cacao ritual, against which claims of an unbroken line to any specific contemporary ceremony can be checked.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Michael D. Coe was a Yale professor of anthropology and a leading Maya epigrapher and archaeologist; Sophie D. Coe was a food historian. Their study of chocolate's Mesoamerican and world history is the standard academic reference on the subject, drawing on archaeology, iconography and colonial-era documentary sources, independent of any commercial or ceremonial interest in the modern chocolate or cacao-ceremony trade. Citation
AuthorSophie D. Coe, Michael D. Coe
PublisherThames and Hudson
Publication Year1996
Source Typeacademic monograph
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Classic Maya directly: "medicinal and currency roles in Classic Maya and Aztec society from archaeological, iconographic and colonial documentary sources, and it is the standard scholarly reference for what is and is not..."
Claims Backed By This Source (19 claims)
This source backs 19 claims across the atlas. As facts: 12 well-attested. As cited relationships: 3 holds, 1 connected. Plus 3 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 7 claims: 6 well-attested, 1 holds.
- Articles, 6 claims: 2 well-attested, 2 holds, 2 general references.
- Practices, 6 claims: 4 well-attested, 1 connected, 1 general references.
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