5 November 2024 The Future is the Product of the Past

6000-Year-Old Salt Production House Rewrites Europe’s History

Archaeologists in the UK have found an ancient stone age-era salt-production house in North Yorkshire, estimated to be older even than Stonehenge, UK media outlets reported on Wednesday.

Dating from the Neolithic period around 3800 B.C.E. the 6,000-year-old find is the latest discovery from the Street House Farm site in Loftus.

Finds unearthed on a shoreline near Loftus include three hearths, fragments of broken Neolithic pottery, a ditch, some still containing salt deposits, shaped stone artifacts, and a storage pit. All of the finds are cited as important evidence of salt processing.

According to Steve Sherlock, the archaeologist who led the dig, the finds are “spectacular and of national significance”.

The discovery is particularly important in that it can substantially rewrite the historical understanding of Neolithic England because the facility is not only the oldest facility found on the island but also one of the oldest facilities found in Western Europe.

This new finding, he explained, according to The Independent, indicates that properly settled civilizations developed on the island earlier than expected, with stone-age Britons transitioning into an agricultural society from a hunter-gather lifestyle. In fact, it pushes salt-making back by nearly 2,400 years.

Fragments of tools for salt processing found at the neolithic site in North Yorkshire
Fragments of tools for salt processing found at the neolithic site in North Yorkshire

Salt was an extremely valuable commodity, and the extraction process is very complex and implies a certain level of sophistication. In fact, according to UK sea-salt production expert David Lea-Wilson, “Any ancient coastal culture that was able to master that technology would have been able to expand their economy substantially,” according to The Independent.

Salt was essential to the expansion of the Stone Age. This is because it gave the people of the Neolithic Age the ability to preserve meat. According to the Independent, James Swift, a traditional meat preservation expert, said that effective management of cattle is almost impossible without salt.

In other words, the fact that salt can be used at all means that the entire early agricultural sector will undergo revolutionary changes. Male calves can be preserved after slaughter throughout the year, and cows have more grass, which in turn means more milk production.

And not only was this salt production house effective but according to Sherlock, salt-making experts said “you’d expect to find that in the Iron Age,” according to the New Scientist news site.

Through some archaeological detective work, Sherlock not only figured out how the salt-making facilities work but also first figured out how the process reached Britain. The pottery used to extract salt from seawater is a special type of bowl that can be traced back to France.

According to The Guardian, there is a theory that migrants from the north of France brought ceramics, and thus even technology, to Britain around 4000 BC.

Related Articles

Queen Kubaba: Some 4,500 years ago, a woman rose to power and reigned over one of the largest civilizations in ancient Mesopotamia

28 December 2023

28 December 2023

Is it possible to say who was the first queen in history? Given the size and diversity of human civilization,...

1500-year-old Elite tombs were discovered vicinity of the ancient seaport of Berenice Troglodytica in Egypt

22 May 2022

22 May 2022

Polish archaeologists have discovered a tomb complex near the ancient port of Berenice Troglodytica in Egypt. Archaeologists from the University...

Centuries-old boardwalk discovered

22 December 2023

22 December 2023

During construction work in November 2023, road construction workers in Fürth came across an archaeological sensation: a centuries-old boardwalk under...

A 2,500-year-old Slate Tablet Containing Paleo-Hispanic Alphabet Found

15 June 2024

15 June 2024

Experts analyzing the symbols on a 2,500-year-old tablet recently discovered in Spain have uncovered a mysterious ancient alphabet. According to...

Czech archaeologists discovered a unique bronze belt buckle dating back to the eighth century

12 December 2023

12 December 2023

Czech archaeologists have unearthed a bronze belt buckle from the early Middle Ages, depicting a snake devouring a frog-like creature....

The Jinn of Girnavaz Mound

6 February 2021

6 February 2021

Girnavaz mound is in the north of Nusaybin district of Mardin province and Nusaybin 4 km is away. It is...

God Vishnumurthy Statue Found in a Well in Karnataka

28 February 2021

28 February 2021

A statue of the god Vishnumurthy dumped into a well was found near a destroyed Udupi temple in the state...

Archaeologists discover innovative 40,000-year-old culture in China

2 March 2022

2 March 2022

Ancient hunter-gatherers living in what is now China may have been the first people in East Asia to process mustard...

3500-year-old Ritual Table with All Its Ceramic Dishware Found in Azerbaijan

12 July 2024

12 July 2024

A joint team of Italian and Azerbaijani archaeologists has discovered a 3500-year-old ritual table with the ceramic tableware still in...

Archaeologists discovered on Tunisian coast three shipwrecks, one of which 2,000 years old

8 June 2023

8 June 2023

A team of archaeologists from eight countries—Algeria, Croatia, Egypt, France, Italy, Morocco, Spain, and Tunisia bordering the Mediterranean Sea has...

Unprecedented necropolis site found in Cappadocia, one of Türkiye’s most important tourism centers

8 July 2024

8 July 2024

In Cappadocia, located in the Central Anatolia Region of Türkiye, known for its unique moon-like landscape, underground cities, cave churches,...

Hunting tools Dating Back 1900 Years Found inside a Cave in Querétaro, Mexico

27 January 2024

27 January 2024

Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) found hunting weapons dating back approximately 1,900 years in a...

5500-year-old pentagon structure found in North China

13 November 2021

13 November 2021

Archaeologists discovered the remnants of a pentagonal structure going back 5,500 years in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, north China. According to...

An extraordinary archaeological discovery in Spain: A new decorated stela has been found in context, in the 3000-year-old funerary complex

15 October 2023

15 October 2023 2

Archaeologists have discovered a new decorated stela in the 3000-year-old burial complex of Las Capellanías in Cañaveral de León (Huelva,...

An Iron Age Necropolis was discovered in the Normandy, northwestern France

11 May 2022

11 May 2022

A modest Iron Age agricultural settlement excavated at Blainville-sur-Orne in Normandy, northwest France, led to the unexpected discovery of a...