Who says food fads can't last?
Thousands of years before the advent of Tex-Mex, ancient Americans were spicing up stew with red hot chili peppers.
New fossil evidence shows prehistoric people from southern Peru up to the Bahamas were cultivating varieties of chilies millennia before Columbus' arrival brought the spice to world cuisine.
Identified via starch residues.
UPDATE: More here.
UPDATE: And another one here.