In a coastal town in the north of the English county of Yorkshire, archaeologists have discovered the oldest known salt production facility in Great Britain. The Neolithic salt works already existed around 3800 BC and had three fireplaces, over which salt water from the nearby sea was boiled down to make salt cakes. While similar old systems have already been found on the European continent, this is the first find of its kind in Great Britain.
Salt was a valuable resource thousands of years ago. The “white gold” could be used to preserve meat and other foods and to season dishes. Salt was therefore a sought-after commodity of exchange and trade from an early stage. “The communities that controlled salt extraction and distribution benefited,” explains British archaeologist Steve Sherlock. Archaeological finds indicate that people in Europe began to boil down brine and seawater in a targeted manner from the Neolithic Age in order to extract salt. Relics of such Neolithic salt works can be found in some coastal areas of Spain, but also in Germany, Poland, France and the Balkans.
Furnace construction from the Neolithic Age
In Great Britain, on the other hand, there has been no trace of Neolithic salt production. The earliest known relics of early salt works came from the Bronze and Iron Ages – so far. Now, however, Sherlock has discovered a British salt works from the Neolithic Age during excavations in the north of Yorkshire for the first time. The relics are located near Loftus on an area where scientists had found two Neolithic structures and the remains of an Iron Age settlement as early as the 1980s. Since 2004, Sherlock and his team have been carrying out further excavations there, especially of the Neolithic structures.
In addition to the post holes in a wooden ring structure, the traces of a house and numerous ceramic shards, the researchers came across the remains of an approximately 6.5-meter-long chamber in which there were three fireplaces – recognizable by blackened stones and remains of ash. “Around the edges of these fireplaces there was a concentration of reddened, wedge-shaped stones and ceramic material that I thought were supports for stoves and remnants of ceramic troughs,” reports Sherlock. According to dating, these finds come from around 3800 BC. To the southeast of these hearths was a clay-lined pit that could have served as a kind of tank.
First evidence of a Neolithic salt works in Great Britain
But what was it? According to the archaeologist, there are three possible interpretations of these Neolithic ovens: It could be a kind of crematorium, but missing bones and human remains speak against it. It is also conceivable that pottery was burned over these stoves. However, you would then have to find fragments of unsuccessful fires, which was not the case. In addition, kilns for ceramics from the Neolithic Great Britain are not known. “It is believed that vessels were burned in open fires at this time and until the late Bronze Age,” explains Sherlock.
In his opinion, a third purpose is much closer: The fire pits were the remains of a Neolithic salt works. “This interpretation is based on characteristic features of the artifact ensemble, for which there are parallels in a number of Bronze and Iron Age salt processing sites in Great Britain,” says Sherlock. In addition, the facility was not far from the seashore and thus a source of salt water. This would make the Loftus plant by far the oldest salt works in Great Britain and one of the oldest in Western Europe.
From sea water to salt cake
Based on the findings, the archaeologist believes the following sequence of salt extraction in Loftus is likely: First, seawater was collected in basins and pre-concentrated by evaporation in the sun. The resulting brine was then brought into the plant and temporarily stored there in the clay-lined tank. Little by little, three large ceramic salt boiling vessels were filled from this tank, which were placed over the hearths. The water was boiled until the salt crystallized and a salt cake formed at the bottom of the vessels. Finally, the boiling vessels were smashed and the salt cakes were removed. “How much salt was once produced here has yet to be determined,” says Sherlock.
According to the archaeologist, there could have been more such salt works in Neolithic Britain. But because the sea levels were 2.50 to three meters lower back then, many of these sites are now flooded by the sea and are therefore largely destroyed or inaccessible.
Source: Antiquity, doi: 10.15184 / aqy.2021.25