How old is chocolate? We probably seldom stop to think about that, but it must have been around for thousands of years. And you're right!

In fact recent research is said to have found evidence that pushes back the use of cacao by 500 years more than previously thought. Cacao is the source of chocolate.

Some archaeologists of Cornell University have dug up some liquid-holding pottery in Central America. Traces of a chemical from the cacao plant was found. The pottery was 3,100 years old.

These early Central Americans made a fermented drink using the pulp of the plant. The normal chocolate we use is made from the seeds. From the design of the pottery found, the archaeologists say that the drink was used on important social occasions.

They do not tell us if it caused intoxication. But I am sure these Mesoamericans, as they are called, enjoyed themselves on these important occasions.