Discoveries of some of the long lost Mayan Cities
Recently discovered ruins of some of the great Mayan cities of the ancient southern Mexico, has stirred up debates across the globe! Guess what! Interestingly the chicles (the modern day's student faves... Chewing Gum) is involved in contributed a lot in this discovery.
The Mayas of the Southern Mexico loved chewing chicles. Evidences are there that one of their heroes, called Kukulkan, who had been worshipped as Lord, used to be highly fond of chewing gum. They used to call them "Chicle", as most people even today call it by this name. The main source of the chewing gum was wild sapodilla trees. They used to make sharp cuts in the bark of the wild wild sapodilla trees and collected the viscous milky white liquid that oozed out of the cuts. when the thick liquid hardened, they became delectable for chewing. Gradually the habit of chewing chicles got spread out through out the Central America and later more widely across the globe. The credit of introducing the chicles in to the modern world actually goes to two American people, named William Wrigley Jr. around 1870s. Later the demand for chewing gums turned out to be really huge and needs were felt to search for the wild sapidilla trees. Good news is that while searching for these wild tress, some of the ruins of the great Mayan cities have been discovered. The discoveries of the ancient Mayan cities helped resolved the longest hunts for the Mayan culture and civilization, but more interesting point hereby is that the hunt for the chicle tree is the root to these amazing discoveries.
A very few consumers of chicles actually know the history of product and it's link with the recent discoveries of the Mayan cities, although chewing the chewing gums has consistently been a part of the popular culture of North America for more than a century, and even the whole world at present. Even I just came to know about the habit of chewing chicles by the pre-Columbian people - the Aztec and Mayans. The extensive research work on this has been by using the historical evidences like documents and engraves. Anthropological, archaeological, botanical, and cultural ecological literature have helped the researchers a lot in this too!
Recently discovered ruins of some of the great Mayan cities of the ancient southern Mexico, has stirred up debates across the globe! Guess what! Interestingly the chicles (the modern day's student faves... Chewing Gum) is involved in contributed a lot in this discovery.
The Mayas of the Southern Mexico loved chewing chicles. Evidences are there that one of their heroes, called Kukulkan, who had been worshipped as Lord, used to be highly fond of chewing gum. They used to call them "Chicle", as most people even today call it by this name. The main source of the chewing gum was wild sapodilla trees. They used to make sharp cuts in the bark of the wild wild sapodilla trees and collected the viscous milky white liquid that oozed out of the cuts. when the thick liquid hardened, they became delectable for chewing. Gradually the habit of chewing chicles got spread out through out the Central America and later more widely across the globe. The credit of introducing the chicles in to the modern world actually goes to two American people, named William Wrigley Jr. around 1870s. Later the demand for chewing gums turned out to be really huge and needs were felt to search for the wild sapidilla trees. Good news is that while searching for these wild tress, some of the ruins of the great Mayan cities have been discovered. The discoveries of the ancient Mayan cities helped resolved the longest hunts for the Mayan culture and civilization, but more interesting point hereby is that the hunt for the chicle tree is the root to these amazing discoveries.
A very few consumers of chicles actually know the history of product and it's link with the recent discoveries of the Mayan cities, although chewing the chewing gums has consistently been a part of the popular culture of North America for more than a century, and even the whole world at present. Even I just came to know about the habit of chewing chicles by the pre-Columbian people - the Aztec and Mayans. The extensive research work on this has been by using the historical evidences like documents and engraves. Anthropological, archaeological, botanical, and cultural ecological literature have helped the researchers a lot in this too!
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