Experimental Archaeology and the Sustainability of Dental Calculus Research: The Case of Chocolate and the Nuns Of S. Maria Della Stella’s Church, Saluzzo, Italy

In Italy, chocolate (Theobroma cacao L.) was introduced during the Columbian exchange, and it quickly became both an important and accessible part of the Italian culinary tradition. Today, Italy is Europe’s second-largest chocolate producer. This project explored the potential of a new methodological approach to investigate the history of chocolate by combining experimental archaeology with micromorphological and chemical analysis of dental calculus from the skeletal remains of a post-medieval monastic community (Saluzzo, Italy) known from historical documents to have consumed chocolate products. Although the results obtained showed no traces of chocolate in the analyzed dental calculus from the nuns of Saluzzo, through experimental work, we were able to identify markers diagnostic for T. cacao both in the experimental chocolate recipes, which we recreated, and in modern dental calculus, showing the potential for the application of these methodologies.