Müller Salt - The white gold of the earth

The history of salt and the best and most beautiful natural salts in the world.
1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-1-64268-519-0
Verlag: novum publishing
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 152 Seiten

Salt - white gold or white poison? Elixir of life or pathogen? How the primal element salt has ensured our survival and changed our lives is an exciting journey from the beginning of evolution to modern times. How could these white grains, which we hardly pay any attention to today, once be called 'white gold'? The history of salt is extremely exciting; the extraction of salt brought us important technical achievements and changed landscapes. Cities and roads were built through mining and trade. Wars were fought over salt and it brought down colonial powers. Salt is thus closely interwoven with the history of mankind.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Müller, Marco

Leseproben

History of salt mining and the salt trade

Salt mining has a special significance in human history and an ancient history of its own. This goes back at least as far as the Neolithic Age, and probably even further. In our modern age, in which industrialization has made it possible to mine and extract huge quantities of salt, salt is omnipresent and available in abundance. While around 240 to 250 million tons of salt are produced worldwide every year today, the situation was very different until the middle of the 20th century. It is hard to imagine today that salt, once rare and coveted, was once synonymous with prosperity, wealth and power.

Until the beginning of industrialization, there were only a few mining sites and salt was extracted by hard, physical work with the few tools available. There was always enough salt, but it was not readily available in all parts of the world. The different types of salt deposits, sea salt or rock salt, required different extraction and mining techniques. While sea salt has always been harvested by evaporation with the help of wind and sun in evaporation basins, mining has changed fundamentally over the millennia. The high value of salt across all cultures drove the consistent further development of mining techniques, and ever better tools quickly brought higher yields.

A third way of extracting salt is by boiling salt dissolved in water, the brine, using different heat sources.

Today, scientists benefit from the preservative properties of salt in their studies, research and evaluations. Numerous finds in old salt mines have been completely preserved by the salt. The climate prevailing in the salt mines prevents the decomposition of organic substances by microbes, so that numerous finds are excellent contemporary witnesses of past eras. Archaeology is otherwise only familiar with such fortunate situations in the case of ice or bog finds.

Hallstadt in the Upper Austrian Salzkammergut is one of the oldest known salt mining regions in Europe. The region has been known for its rich salt deposits for thousands of years. But how did people come to know about the importance of salt and salt mining? Presumably, the behavior of native red deer and wild boar species was observed thousands of years ago by wandering hunters who repeatedly went to the salty springs and salt veins in the region. It is possible that these places proved to be ideal hunting grounds, as the herds regularly came to the salt springs to instinctively supply themselves with the vital minerals. Curious, they adopted the animals' rituals and gradually discovered the positive properties of the salt. In order to be able to trade the new, valuable finds with other hunters, the salty-tasting stones were removed, and gradually the first salt trade in Europe came into being. Old stone axes used for salt mining and a deer antler used as a pick have been dated by archaeologists to be up to 7,000 years old. It is therefore safe to assume that the first salt was mined around Hallstadt at this time - probably the oldest salt mining site in Europe. Around the year 1,500 BC, the construction of the first larger mines began and thus the organized mining of salt. Great physical effort was required to obtain the valuable commodity. With the help of bronze picks, small lumps of salt were knocked out of the salt domes, packed into leather bags and laboriously carried up through narrow tunnels. The hard work seemed worthwhile even back then, and the spoils were exchanged for valuable furs, gold objects, amber jewelry and new tools. Today it is assumed that the treasure of the Alps found its way to large parts of Central Europe via traders. Over the centuries, Hallstadt developed into a lively economic center and brought great prosperity to the region. In addition to salt mining, a new branch of industry was discovered - thanks to the knowledge now gained about the preservative properties of salt, whole parts of pigs as well as cattle, sheep and goats were cured in brine pools and then brought to the salt mines. The unique microclimate prevailing there proved to be perfect for targeted stockpiling and thus ensured the workers' supplies.

In the 6th century BC, following further salt discoveries, salt mining also began in Dürrnberg, just a few kilometers away. Over the centuries, several mine shafts were created. Interestingly, there was a decisive difference in Dürrnberg compared to the mine in Hallein. The workers here were already using tools made of much harder iron, whereas in Hallein they were still using pickaxes made of bronze. In addition, mining technology had developed further, which was clearly reflected in the yields. The coveted and valuable salt from the Salzkammergut was now being transported to more and more parts of Europe via newly emerging trade routes. Working in the mines was not without its dangers; shaft collapses or water ingress after heavy rain brought salt mining to a standstill at times. Despite all the setbacks and dangers, mining continued undeterred, the harvest was too valuable and the yield too lucrative.

Around the same time, salt mining also began in the French region of Lorraine, south of the Moselle, near the present-day city of Nancy. There were several saline springs in the region. The climatic conditions for salt extraction through natural evaporation did not exist, so a new method had to be found. The use of large boiling pans was not yet known, but it was known that the water could be evaporated by using fire. So the brine was first concentrated and then poured into terracotta pots. These were then fired on fireplaces from below until all liquid had evaporated and the salt had completely crystallized. The vessels were carefully smashed and loaves of pure natural salt could be removed. The enormous effort seemed justified, as the salt was worth its weight in gold and precious stones at the time. Over the course of many years, excavations in the region have uncovered layers of terracotta remains, some of which were several meters thick. It is certain that the extraction method, known in technical jargon as "Briquetage de la Seille", was used until the 1st century BC, before being replaced by the first boiling pans.

Salt was also extracted from brine springs by boiling in clay pots in other regions around the world, as excavations today prove beyond doubt. The oldest finds come from China and are around 5,000 years old. This technique was used for around 2,500 years before improved salt extraction methods were developed. Salt boiling was also known over 3,500 years ago on the main Japanese island of Honshu, in the region that is now Tokyo, where the production of ceramics had been known for more than 10,000 years. At that time, salt was considered a means of payment in Japan and could be used to procure all kinds of goods and services. In Vietnam, briquetting was also used almost 3,000 years ago.

Even on the American continent, there are finds that prove that the Mayan culture knew how to cook salt. In the southern Yucatan Desert, for example, both ovens and vessels for producing salt loaves were found dating from the 7th to 10th centuries - long before Europeans discovered America.

Several places in Germany are also known where salt was boiled with the help of briquetage. This happened in Halle in Saxony around 1,000-300 BC, in what is now Schwäbisch Hall around 500-100 BC and in Bad Nauheim, in the Wetterau district of Hesse, from around 500 to 100 BC.

Today, Hall is part of many place names in German-speaking countries and is often a reference to the connection with salt. One reason for this could be the Germanic word "hal(l)", which translates as "salt works". It is also possible that the names refer to the Celtic term "Hall" for salt.

In the Polish village of Barycz, ten kilometers southeast of Krakow, numerous salt-boiling tools from the Neolithic period have been found. There are many salty springs here. When the springs slowly dried up in the early Middle Ages, the first salt wells were dug to extract the brine. In the process, large deposits of rock salt were discovered, from which the famous Wieliczka salt mine was created. Thanks to the enormous profits from the salt mines, the Polish King Casimir the Great founded the Krakow Academy in 1364, which is now known as the Jagiellonian University. It is the second oldest university in Europe after Charles University in Prague, which was founded 16 years earlier. In 1978, UNESCO even declared the salt mine to be one of the first world cultural assets worthy of special protection. In 1996, the decision was made to cease industrial salt production in the mines. However, the mines are now used as healing tunnels and the underground salt world quickly became a magnet for visitors, attracting around two million visitors from all over the world every year.

Salt also played a not insignificant role in Rome's rise to world power. The Romans had a strong interest in salt production, as it was important to secure supplies for the legions throughout the Roman Empire. The preservative effect of salt was of fundamental importance for this. If the legions had enough to eat, the morale of the troops was better. This also prevented plundering troops from helping themselves to the larders of the population of occupied territories. As a result, the population was more likely to accept the occupying troops. Part of the legions' salary was therefore paid in the form of a salt ration, the so-called salarium.

Due to the geographical and climatic conditions in Italy, the extraction of salt from sea salt pans was particularly popular. Sea water was allowed to evaporate in shallow pools located directly by the sea until salt crystallized. The Romans also brought their knowledge of salt production to large parts of...