Dr. Janine Gasco (Anthropology) is a leading expert on the prehistory and ecology of cacao—the plant from which chocolate is made—and particularly the use of cacao in southern Mexico. Having worked in the state of Chiapas since 1978 as an archaeologist, ethnohistorian, and anthropologist, Dr. Gasco regularly takes CSUDH
students to her research
area where they study traditional uses of cacao
and other tropical plants.
Dr. Gasco says, “I first started thinking about cacao seriously during my first visit to Chiapas, Mexico, in the late 1970s when I worked on an archaeology project there. Like most people back then, I had never thought about where chocolate came from, and then I saw my first cacao tree.
Dr. Janine Gasco (Anthropology), CSUDH undergraduates Alica Bush and Scott Bigney, and local members of the archaeological excavation team in Chiapas, southern Mexico.
Cacao Trade in Southern Mexico
Article by
Jerry D. Moore, Ph.D., RPA
Chair and Professor
Department of Anthropology
COLLEGE OF NATURAL & BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
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