SC - salt

[LYN M PARKINSON]

The January issue of _Smithsonian_ magazine has an article on salt, which
we talked about recently.  A few period references: Civilizations rose in
Africa, China, India and the Middle East around rich salt deposits.
Salt bought slaves and at times was traded at a value twice that of gold.
Marco Polo discovered that Tibetans used salt cakes stamped with the
imperial seal of the great Kublai Khan as money.
When Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 B.C. he found the natives making
salt by pouring brine over hot sticks and scraping off the leftover
glaze...he always traveled with "salinators" who were skilled at making
salt for his troops.  Those experts showed the...Brits how to boil brine,
as the Romans had been doing for centuries.
The basic methods of salt production haven't changed for centuries--boil,
evaporate, mine....Tuareg salt caravans in the Sahara...
Beginning about A.D. 1000, Timbuktu, established by the Tuareg nomads on
a branch of the Niger River, became a major trading center where for
centuries salt was bartered for gold.  ...the salt was hewn right out of
the earth.

There are references to salt's use in religion, health, trade, etc. from
2000 B.C. China to today, most of the article concerning salt production
here in the USA.  Very interesting.

Regards,

Allison
allilyn at juno.com, Barony Marche of the Debatable Lands, Pittsburgh, PA
Kingdom of Aethelmearc

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