Ancient saltworks

In the United Kingdom Permian and Triassic halite (rock salt) deposits have been affected by natural and artificial dissolution producing karstic landforms and subsidence. Brine springs from the Triassic salt have been exploited since Roman times, or possibly earlier, indicating prolonged natural dissolution. Medieval salt extraction in England is indicated by the of place names ending in “wich” indicating brine spring exploitation at Northwich, Middlewich, Nantwich and Droitwich. Later, Victorian brine extraction in these areas accentuated salt karst development causing severe subsidence problems that remain a legacy. The salt was also mined, but the mines flooded and consequent brine extraction caused the workings to collapse, resulting in catastrophic surface subsidence. Legislation was enacted to pay for the damage and a levy is still charged for salt extraction. Some salt mines are still collapsing and the re-establishment of the post-brine extraction hydrogeological regimes means that salt springs may again flow causing further dissolution and potential collapse.

The operation, production and exploitation of salt pans in preindustrial Greece is a relatively recent subject in historiography. This article, which is a preliminary draft for a wider study, ipso facto drew its material from mainly unpublished sources (State Archives of Venice, Marciana and Correr libraries of Venice, Greek State Archives-Archives of the Prefecture of Corfu).
Examined here are the conditions of production and exploitation of the salt pans, the labour regime of the salt-workers, the cost of operation and the economic yields for the Venetian treasury. Last, contrary to what was hitherto believed, it is documented that: a) the management of the greater part of the salt pans until 1681 was in the hands of the Venetian State and not of private individuals, and b) all the work in these was carried out not by wage-labour but by levied or statute labour (corvée).

The European Commission has identified competition for space as one of the main factors contributing to the stagnation of EU aquaculture production and has recommended coordinated spatial planning, as a mean to identify sites with favorable operational characteristics for aquaculture and lower potential for conflict with other activities. In coastal areas of the Mediterranean, pond aquaculture has emerged as an alternative to salt production in abandoned artisanal Salinas, compromising the delivery of Ecosystem Services in wetland areas. To establish a methodology to estimate the physical carrying capacity for coastal pond aquaculture, and the contribution of the ecosystem to the value of provisioning services from aquaculture, while minimizing the competition for space with solar salt production, we applied a multicriteria-decision making tool (AHP method) to identify priority areas for extensive and semi-intensive aquaculture development in solar saltscapes, taking into account physical factors of ecological and social nature. The study presents spatial allocation scenarios for aquaculture development in the saltscapes of the Figueira da Foz, in the Atlantic coastal zone of Portugal. The physical carrying capacity for the two scenarios presented indicates a potential increase of the area occupied by aquaculture farms in ponds previously occupied by inactive farms and flooded/land filled salterns, whose sites tend to minimize conflict with salt production through avoiding the same water input location and being adjacent to active farms. In conclusion, the approach applied has proven to be successful to manage space competition between aquaculture and salt production, contributing to a sustainable increase of the value of the provisioning of ecosystem services from aquaculture. In future studies, estimation of the social carrying capacity should be combined with the approach followed in this study to improve the definition of the acceptable social limits for aquaculture development in saltscapes.

des Salzes, Verkehrswege, Handel, sozialer Kontext, symbolische Dimension etc.), mit dem Ziel neue Erklarungsmodelle fur vorgeschichtliche Gegebenheiten zu gewinnen. Abstract. The sub-Carpathian area of Moldavia (Romania) represents the ideal framework to perform extensive ethno-archaeological research as the area harbours over 200 salt springs near which are found remarkable archaeological deposits related to salt exploitation, in particular from Neolithic and Chalcolithic times (6000-3500 BC). Nowadays, these mineral springs are still exploited at an unexpected degree of intensity by members of rural as well as of urban communities. The main research focuses on the identification of all salt springs in sub-Carpathian Moldavia and on the completion of complex ethno-archaeological research (exploitation, uses, distribution networks, trade, social contexts, symbolism, etc.) in order to propose new and more varied models for explaining prehistoric situations.

Most recent research in Mediterranean medieval landscapes in the Iberian Peninsula has led to the need of analyzing the territories in their wholeness. In this sense, the traditionally considered marginal areas have gained particular significance. Not only for a poor livestock use, though it existed, but also for an agricultural end. The weak human and technological capacity for the desiccation did not prevent significant crops such as the rice to grow. Actually, the significant drainage canals allowed maintaining several spaces in the surrounds of the wetlands. Not all lands had the same economical value, and a part of them had to engage in saltwork exploitation, use of the space for product collection, animal husbandry and fishing. This system was maintained in al-Andalus, however after the Christian conquest, in some parts of the Peninsula, partial land melioration took place. To put it briefly, al-Andalus dominance survival in the Andalusian Mediterranean has made many of these wetlands had a long life until recently, the ones allowing the research we present here. MALPICA CUELLO, Antonio y GARCÍA-CONTRERAS RUIZ, Guillermo «Zone umide del Mediterraneo nell’Andalusia medievale» en Magalie Franchomme, Christine Labeur, Daria Quatrida y Remy Simonetti (eds.), Le zone umide mediterranee ieri e oggi. Les zones humides méditerranéennes hier et aujourd’hui. Actes du Colloque interdisciplinaire organicé par l’Université di Padoue et le Groupe d´Histoire des Zones Humides: Les zones humides mediterraneennes Hier et Aujourd´hui, Padua, Padova University Press, 2014, pp. 99-117. ISBN: 9788897385943

Salt is an invisible object for research in archaeology. However, ancient writings, ethnographic studies and the evidence of archaeological exploitation highlight it as an essential reference for humanity. Both an edible product and a crucial element for food preservation, it has been used by the first human settlements as soon as food storage appeared (Neolithic). As far as the history of food habits (both nutrition and preservation) is concerned, the identification and the use of that resource certainly proves a revolution as meaningful as the domestication of plants and wild animals. On a global scale, the development of new economic forms based on the management of food surplus went along an increased use of saline resources through a specific technical knowledge, aimed at the extraction of salt from its natural supports. Considering the variety of former practices observed until now, a pluralist approach based on human as well as environmental sciences is required. It allows a better knowledge of the historical interactions between our societies and this “white gold”, which are well-known from the Middle-Ages, but more hypothetical for earlier times. This publication intends to present the most recent progresses in the field of salt archaeology in Europe and beyond; it also exposes various approaches allowing a thorough understanding of this complex and many-faceted subject. The complementary themes dealt with in this book, the broad chronological and geographical focus, as well as the relevance of the results presented, make this contribution a key synthesis of the most recent research on this universal topic.