Journal in progress

Towards a geologic understanding of salt exposures

Dr. Michael R. Hudec

Salt exposures have been critically important in the history of humanity, providing necessary minerals for nutrition, food storage, and medicine, to name a few. But where does this salt come from? Why is it found in some places and not others? By what processes does it reach the surface? This paper will discuss the origin of bedded salt formations, and explain why such formations are common in some parts of the earth and not others. It will also discuss the salt tectonics that can bring deeply buried salt to the earth’s surface, using several well-known surface exposures as example.

Cured pork

Dr. Pierre Laszlo

The French relish a legacy from their ancestors, the Gauls. This is the custom of killing the domestic pig at the beginning of winter and storing the various parts, duly salted, in a container for several months. It has endured, it helped the household to survive antonomously in times of war (centuries !), epidemics and other hardships. The saloir, as the tub got to be named in medieval times, in addition to its practical utility, held strong symbolical significance.

The article will also touch on the question of the material for the curing tub, stoneware or wooden.

Briquetage and Baskets: Forced evaporation of brine at the Villafáfila lagoons, Central Iberia, during prehistoric times

Dra. Elisa Guerra Doce, Dr. F. Javier Abarquero Moras and Dr. Germán Delibes de Castro

The area encompassing the brackish lagoons of Villafáfila features a high concentration of small prehistoric sites, which show evidence of salt production through brine boiling. Excavations at the Copper Age site of Molino Sanchón II and the Bronze Age site of Santioste have yielded valuable insights into the operational sequence and chronological evolution. While salt moulding was initially carried out in baskets, briquetage became increasingly important in the Bronze Age. This paper presents an overview of the findings in current research, focusing on technological and ritual aspects of salt production at Villafáfila.

Salt-making and pottery production in central Mexico: adaptations in craft specialization in Late pre-Columbian times

Dr. Blas Castellón Huerta

 The discovery of ancient salt production localities in southern Puebla state, Mexico (1200-1550 A.D.), with extensive use of briquetages are the subject of a long-term study on the technological variants of this production. We present here new details of clay artifacts and their chain of production, use and discard, associated with the last stage of brine boiling, and some comparisons with other regions of central Mexico.

The History of Salt Production Along the Upper Yangzi River--from the Eastern Part of Chongqing Municipality to the Three Gorges--as Perceived Through Archaeological Discoveries

Dr. Li Shuicheng 

The article analyzes the history of salt production in the upper Yangzi River basin, from Chongqing to the Three Gorges, based on archaeological discoveries. The international project launched in 1999 identified ancient salt sites, brine wells, and traditional salt production techniques. Excavations at the Zhongba site revealed cultural layers dating from the Neolithic to the Qing Dynasty. Structures such as mud-plastered pits and brine-boiling furnaces, comparable to those found in other parts of the world, were uncovered. The study highlights the role of the salt industry in the economic and social development of the region. 

Salt making techniques in Japan

Dr. Takamune Kawashima

Salt has been produced in Japan from seawater since prehistoric period. As seawater’s salinity is 3 to 3.5%, it is believed that technology existed to increase the salinity in order to shorten the boiling process. In addition, the development of boiling techniques has been observed, such as the construction of stone-lined hearths. Salt making pottery also changed its shapes over time. This paper will focuse on changes in the salt production techniques in Japan.

Salt-Making Pottery of Southeastern North America

Dra. Ashley A. Dumas

The indigenous people of southeastern North America made salt from around AD 900 - 1700. Pottery for making salt varied by region and period and reflects at least three different production methods. This article reviews those pottery types and methods and suggests an explanation for the temporal variations.

Provadia-Solnitsata: prehistoric production of table salt by boiling brine in ceramic vessels 

Dr. Vassil Nikolov

During the late Neolithic and Chalcolithic (end of the 6th and 5th millennia BC) a production center of dug-out facilities arose in Provadia-Solnitsata. The boiling of brine from the salt spring took place in ceramic vessels until pure wet salt was obtained. The wet salt is then poured and pressed into small ceramic vessels of various sizes and "baked" in a special oven until it forms hard salt "nuggets" that are traded.