Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao

11. The Use and Representation of Cacao During the Classic Period at Copan, Honduras

11 The Use and Representation of Cacao During the Classic Period at Copan, Honduras Cameron L. McNeil, W. Jeffrey Hurst, and Robert J. Sharer Cacao had a significant place in ritual at Copan, Honduras, from at least the Early Classic period (ca. A.D. 250–600), but probably long before. Within the human-produced mountains of the Copan Acropolis, Early Classic queens and kings were entombed with a diversity of comestibles containing cacao.1 Although cacao iconography has not been found in the Early Classic material culture record at Copan, by Late Classic times (ca. A.D. 600–900) sculptured cacao pods appear on ceramic cache vessels and stone censers, vessels bearing cacao glyphs are first produced in the area, and one temple displays open sculpted cacao pods on its façade. Its representation at Copan designates cacao as a sacred tree linked to the rebirth of ancestors and their journey from the Underworld; to maize; and to feminine attributes of fertility. Documentation of cacao and cacao iconography at Copan demonstrates a unique tradition in the Maya world. Although the Copan Maya, particularly during the Late Classic period, employed symbolism linked to cacao that is also found at other Classic period sites, the degree to which they used this symbolism and that they did not employ other Maya traditions linked to cacao until the Late Classic, sets this polity apart from other Maya centers. Copan’s position on the southeastern periphery of the Maya region meant that it was at a crossroads between Maya traditions and those of other ethnic groups to the east and south (Bill 1997; W. L. Fash 2005; Longyear 1952; Viel 1993). Not surprisingly, then, Copan’s use of cacao symbolism reflects the hybrid culture of the valley, combining traits common to the Maya with those related to nonMaya neighbors in the Ulua River Valley and sites such as Naco along the Chameleon river (see Figure 11.1). In this chapter we discuss the importance of cacao in Early Classic tomb and cache offerings at Copan, focusing on the results of vessel residue analysis conducted on thirty-seven samples from these contexts. We then explore the The Use and Representation of Cacao During the Classic Period at Copan 225 cultivation of cacao at Copan and its religious significance for the people of the polity. We conclude with evidence for the continuity of these traditions between the Early and Late Classic periods at Copan and between the Copan Maya and neighboring groups—both Maya and non-Maya. Early Classic Cacao Use at Copan Cacao in Early Classic Archaeological Residues at Copan In the 1990s, the Early Copan Acropolis Program (ECAP) of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, under the direction of Robert J. Sharer, began a tunneling project into select areas of the Acropolis to investigate its development. The central architecture of most ancient Maya cities comprises solid pyramidal platforms supporting vaulted buildings. To mark a change in rulership or other important event, such as a calendrical period ending (for example, 9.0.0.0.0 8 Ajaw 13 Keh, or December 11, A.D. 435), the Maya ritually killed and then buried buildings by fashioning new structures atop them. The ECAP excavaFigure 11.1. Map of Copan, Honduras and neighboring areas. Copan is located in the southeastern Maya periphery. Redrawn after Sharer 1994:Figure 1.1. C. L. McNeil, W. J. Hurst, and R. J. Sharer 226 tors dug into the earliest levels of these human-made mountains, discovering more than fifty Early Classic buildings and their construction history. A second objective of ECAP was to determine whether these early levels substantiated the lineage history depicted on stelae and altars at the site—particularly on Altar Q, a monument of the sixteenth ruler, Yax Pahsaj Chan Yopat. Altar Q records the sixteen kings of the Copan dynasty beginning with K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo’, who was made Copan’s king in A.D. 426 but did not arrive in Copan until A.D. 427 (Fash 2001; D. Stuart 2000). The ECAP excavations discovered three royal tombs, referred to as the Hunal (Burial 95-2), Margarita (Burial 93-2), and Sub-Jaguar (Burial 92-2) tombs, as well as two additional elite interments, Burials 92-3 and 95-1. Evidence from the tomb in the Hunal structure indicates it held the remains of K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo,’ Copan’s dynastic founder, who reigned...