Black drink is the name of a tea brewed from the leaves of the yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria Aiton), and used by historic and prehistoric Native American groups in religious ceremonies. Yaupon is native to North America, and originated in the Ouachita mountains of western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. Eventually the species spread or was transplanted to the southeastern coast of North America, and its current geographic range is along the United States Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida; the east coast from Virginia to central Florida; coastal parts of the Mexican Gulf Coast states of Chiapas and Veracruz; and the island of Bermuda.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, European explorers and colonists reported the use of black drink by some southeastern indigenous cultures, including the Creek Confederacy, Timucuan and Seminole, and several Mississippian chiefdoms. Black drink recipes varied from group to group, and may have included other species of holly or other herbal substances. According to these sources, black drink was viewed as a beverage associated with purity and cleansing ceremonies. Historic records reported that black drink was generally consumed from cups made from marine shells.
Yaupon was traded and transplanted from the coastal regions into the interior, where it was believed to have been used by Hopewell [500 BC-AD 200] and later cultures, based on the discovery of shell drinking cups found in high status burial contexts. Historical accounts say that the drinking was limited to adult men of high rank and status.
Making and Consuming Black Drink
Preparation of black drink likely took many forms, but as it was reported by Europeans, the leaves and twigs of the plant were dry-toasted (parched) and then boiled in specially made large ceramic vessels. The boiled liquid was left to cool and then agitated until it frothed. Then the tea was poured into marine shell cups for consumption.
According to European accounts, the participants in purification rituals began by fasting, then consuming black drink in large quantities. This was followed by bouts of ritual vomiting. Yaupon is not necessarily a natural emetic, and the vomiting was a significant part of the cleansing ceremony that reduced the intake of caffeine. These rituals were associated with individual or community religious events, political councils and negotiations, ballgames, and war parties.
Similar preparation, consumption and ritual use including vomiting has also been reported for users of I. guayusa in South American groups (Lewis et al.).
Detecting Black Drink Use
Until recently, archaeological evidence of black drink consumption has been limited to the identification of ceremonial marine shell and ceramic marine shell effigy cups within burial contexts. Recently, the use of liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry on organic residues detected within the fabric of pottery vessel sherds has been applied successfully to the problem.
In 2012, Reber and colleagues reported that caffeine residues--caffeine being the principal component of yaupon holly--could be identified within the fabric of experimentally created pots; and that same year, Crown and colleagues reported finding caffeine, theobromine and ursolic acid in residues from the fabric of beaker vessels at Cahokia and related sites dated between AD 1050 and 1250. Cahokia, located in the midwestern state of Illinois on the Mississippi River near the modern city of St. Louis, Missouri, was the largest and earliest of the Mississippian culture capitals.
Cahokia and Yaupon
The earliest residues of biomarkers for Yaupon is from Stirling phase Cahokia (circa 1050 AD). Cahokia is well away from the coastal regions where I. vomitoria grows, and it is believed to have been traded upriver as an imported luxury item.
The discovery of yaupon at Cahokia and it's nearby polities is significant evidence of Cahokia's influence and trade network. Within 150 years of its founding, Cahokia, the oldest and largest of the Mississippian capitals, already held more than 200 earthen mounds and likely a population of around 15,000. Much of the population were immigrants in from surrounding regions, and much of its power emanated from a strong trade network extending to the eastern plains, the Upper Mississippi Valley, the Great Lakes region and the Gulf Coast.
The presence of Ilex spp at Cahokia by 1050, some 500-600 kilometers (~300-375 miles) from the nearest source, suggests that black drink consumption did not originate there. AD 1050 is the earliest residue evidence to date of black drink, but the drink, and its ceremonial effects likely originated in earlier cultural manifestations: perhaps at least Hopewell [500 BC-AD 200]. Additional residue analysis may illuminate that.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to the Ancient Foods, and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Alikaridis F. 1987. Natural constituents of Ilex species. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 20(2):121-144.
Crown PL, Emerson TE, Gu J, Hurst WJ, Pauketat TR, and Ward T. 2012. Ritual black drink consumption at Cahokia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109(35):13944-13949.
Havard V. 1896. Drink Plants of the North American Indians. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 23(2):33-46.
Lewis WH, Kennelly EJ, Bass GN, Wedner HJ, Elvin-Lewis MP, and W DF. 1991. Ritualistic use of the holly Ilex guayusa by Amazonian Jivaro Indians. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 33(1–2):25-30.
Palumbo M, Talcott S, and Putz F. 2009. Ilex Vomitoria Ait. (Yaupon): A Native North American Source of a Caffeinated and Antioxidant-Rich Tea. Economic Botany 63(2):130-137.
Reber EA, and Kerr MT. 2012. The persistence of caffeine in experimentally produced black drink residues. Journal of Archaeological Science 39(7):2312-2319.
