Manny: Specifically, archaeologists at Shumla think the number 12 could link the deer to a Mesoamerican deity called the Lord of the Dawn, and it would follow that the people who made these paintings could’ve shared a core belief system with the people who eventually became the Aztecs and the Huichol.
by Manny Morone | July 10, 2019
It was there that the Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés famously witnessed the Aztec Emperor Montezuma drinking a chocolate beverage flavored with vanilla. In Réunion, output of vanilla soared thanks to the Albius method, and orchid cultivation expanded to nearby Madagascar. Today, about 80% of the world’s natural vanilla comes from smallholder farms in Madagascar.
by Melody M. Bomgardner | September 12, 2016