Salt is an essential mineral of life. In food it stimulates taste and is among the oldest preservation methods. Part of the human taste bud system is saltiness. A precious item of trade, salt has divine connections.
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As early as 6050 BCE, people boil seawater to extract the crystalized salt, or halite. Evidence of early salt extraction is found c. 6000 BCE in Romania. The people boil spring water to extract salts. By c. 5500 BCE salt is produced at Neolithic Solnitsata, Bulgaria.
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Those who eat meat consume more salt than those who subsist on a vegetable or grain based diet. Some fruit and vegetable foods such as olives, carrots and apples are naturally higher in sodium content.
Salt-tolerant plants such as bee balm and the saltwort family also accumulate salt. Human beings need at least 200 mg or a quarter teaspoon of salt per day. Female fruit bats, whose primary diet is low-sodium figs, visit mineral or salt licks when pregnant.
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Salt ls highly valued by people such as the ancient Greeks, Hebrews, Romans, Byzantines, Hittites, Egyptians, and East Asians. Salt travels the Mediterranean by ship, and across the Sahara Desert overland.
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Built on pre-existing trade networks, routes become known as the Salt Roads. A salt road (salt route, salt way or salt trading route) is any prehistoric and historical routes especially traveled for salt trade. They are regional or international, by land or by sea.
Vast camel trains traverse the Sahara Desert. The desert is the primary natural source of rock salt. Fifty to 100 million years ago the Sahara is a vast salt sea populated by immense oceanic creatures, according to fossils records.
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In the Sahara, salt can be found in surface deposits caused by evaporation, as in old sea beds. Natural slabs of salt come from shallow mines. Laws of supply and demand cause salt wars as nations vie for control of the natural resource.
Salt has been used to raise taxes, in religious rites and folklore. It's said if someone spills salt, a pinch should be thrown over the shoulder to chase off evil spirits. The squealing of wood in a fire is attributed to damned souls, who can be relieved with a sprinkle of salt.
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Salt becomes one of the leading trade commodities as civilization grows from nomadic hunters to settled agriculturalists. Because there's more salt in animal matter than in plants, as people depend more on crops they also increase dependence on salt in trade.
In the ancient near East, salt ceremonially seals an agreement. The early Hebrews make a "covenant of salt" with God and sprinkle salt on offerings to show trust in him.
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At various times in history, besieged or defeated city denizens salt the earth so nothing will grow. Lands can become naturally over-salted when sodium from brine comes through the ground. In this environment, salt-happy plants like green ushtun find their niche in life.
Salt is one of the barter items linked to the obsidian trade in Neolithic Anatolia, as well as amber in northern Europe. It's found among ancient Egyptian funeral offerings and tombs as early as c. 3000 BCE. Also among the items are salt fish and birds.
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By 1500 BC, Egyptians export salt fish to the Phoenicians. From the Levant they get Lebanon cedar, glass and valuable Tyrian purple dye. Phoenicians also act as middlemen to export Egyptian salt fish to other regions.
In Germania the world's first salt mine goes into production c. 800 BCE, started by the Hallstatt Culture. Salz means salt in German, giving its name to Salzburg (Salt Castle), and the river Salzach in Germany and Austria.
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By c. 600 BCE Romans build roads to transport salt from the sea port Ostia to inland Rome. Celtic communities prosper by trading salt and salted meat to Ancient Greece and Rome for wine and other luxuries.
In China, salt as an essential commodity to military troops leads to the unification of the First Chinese Empire in c. 230 BCE. Salt taxes bring wealth to cities such as Liverpool, England and revolution to lands such as France and America. Venice and Genoa fight for dominance.
In Peru, approximately 4,500 salt wells are formed of stepped terraces in the middle slope of the hill Qaqawiñay, Salineras de Maras (Maras Salt Mines). This is a natural salt mine created by trapping mineral-rich spring waters in a series of buttressed basins.
Lüneburg c. 1000 AD prospers from salt production and harvesting facilities or salterns surrounding the town. Traders ship salt via Lauenburg to Lübeck, which supplies all the Baltic Sea coasts.
In East Asia today most people use soy sauce, fish sauce and oyster sauce instead of salt. With a high sodium content the sauces correspond to use of table salt in western cultures. They're typically used in cooking rather than as condiments.
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