RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Brine-boiling not using briquetage? Technical, socio-economical and ritual aspects of salt production at the Villafáfila lagoons (central Iberia) in Late Chalcolithic/Bronze Age
A1 Guerra Doce, Elisa
A1 Abarquero Moras, Francisco Javier
A1 Romero Brugués, Susagna
A1 Herrero Otal, María
A1 Homs, Anna
A1 García Cuesta, José Luis
A1 López Sáez, José Antonio
A1 Piqué, Raquel
A1 Delibes de Castro, Germán
K1 Holocene
K1 Iberia
K1 Chalcolithic
K1 Bronze age
K1 Salt
K1 Brine boiling
K1 Palynology
K1 Geoarchaeology
K1 Basketry
K1 Experimental archaeology
K1 5504.05 Prehistoria
K1 5505.01 Arqueología
AB By combining a multidisciplinary approach and an intensive program of scientific techniques, this paper provides a comprehensive overview of salt production at the Villafáfila lagoons (Zamora, Spain) in prehistoric times. During the Late Chalcolithic and the Early/Middle Bronze Age salt was obtained by boiling brine from salt lagoons. In many parts of western and central Europe at the time the standard procedure for forcing evaporation usually involved the use of crudely fired clay vessels (briquetage) to concentrate brine, and then to mould salt. We suggest that the methods during the final stages of the process differed at Villafáfila, having found evidence of basketry and textiles, which may have been used in the step of crystallization/transport of salt in cake, instead of the small ceramic salt moulds which would be expected in such sites. The role of salt within the socioeconomic setting of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE in Central Iberia is also assessed. It is argued that the production and distribution of salt contributed significantly to the political economy, as elites controlled this activity, supporting the idea that salt was a prestige good that contributed to the accumulation of wealth. There is also evidence of ritual practices in the salt-processing areas, as human burials and animal sacrifices have been documented in the excavated sites.
PB Elsevier
SN 0277-3791
YR 2024
FD 2024
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/73114
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/73114
LA eng
NO Quaternary Science Reviews, julio 2024, vol. 336, 108758
NO Producción Científica
DS UVaDOC
RD 15-ene-2025