People living in eastern North America may have consumed cacao, the plant used to make chocolate, about 1,000 years ago, far earlier than researchers had clear evidence for in the region. New research published in the journal PLOS One found evidence of cacao in ancient pottery DNA from Etowah, a major Mississippian center in present-day Georgia.
The findings point to cacao consumption there during the 11th and 12th centuries, long before European colonization.
Researchers have known that people in Central and South America used cacao thousands of years ago. Evidence has also shown that cacao reached the American Southwest. But researchers had lacked clear evidence of its consumption among major Indigenous societies east of the Mississippi River, where archaeological research continues to reshape understanding of Native American life before European arrival.
Pottery DNA reveals cacao at Etowah
The discovery at Etowah helps fill that gap and raises new questions about how far cacao traveled across the Americas.
Researchers made the discovery by studying pottery fragments excavated from the Etowah Mounds. The 54-acre (22-hectare) archaeological site includes six large earthen mounds, a village, and plazas along the Etowah River.
The team examined three pottery fragments dating back about 800 to 900 years. Archaeologists recovered the pieces from feasting pits associated with the construction of the site’s first platform mound.
Chocolate’s ancient story in North America just got a surprising twist.
Ancient DNA found in pottery from Georgia’s Etowah Mounds suggests people consumed cacao there about 1,000 years ago, pointing to long-distance trade networks across the Americas. pic.twitter.com/AzlLhdbCzm
— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) August 27, 2026
Researchers analyzed ancient residue preserved on the pottery and sequenced its DNA. They compared the genetic material with the cacao genome while filtering out DNA from soil bacteria, other plants, and environmental contamination.
Earlier chemical tests of the same residues had detected caffeine, but that alone could not prove cacao was present. Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria), a plant native to the region, contains some of the same chemical markers as cacao, including caffeine and theobromine. That overlap made it difficult for conventional chemical analysis to distinguish between the two plants.
Ancient DNA provides stronger evidence
The ancient DNA provided more direct evidence. “Ancient DNA confirms the site’s inhabitants consumed cacao,” the study authors wrote.
The finding also offers clues about long-distance connections in ancient North America. Cacao grows in tropical regions and could not have been produced locally at Etowah. Its presence in Georgia suggests it moved north through contact with communities closer to cacao-growing areas.
Cacao discovery points to ancient trade networks
Long-distance networks may have carried cacao alongside other goods, people, and ideas. Evidence in the pre-Columbian Americas has revealed similarly extensive exchange systems. Emeralds found in ancient Panama, for example, were traced to Colombia, while obsidian artifacts from Maya sites have documented changing regional trade networks. However, the researchers could not determine where the cacao originated or which route brought it to Etowah.
That uncertainty leaves important questions about the scale and direction of those connections. Additional archaeological evidence could help researchers determine how cacao moved across the continent and whether its use extended to other Mississippian communities.
“This discovery at Etowah asks us to broaden our understanding of the networks that distributed cacao throughout the Americas before European colonization,” the researchers wrote.
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