Mirrors of Salt: Proceedings of the First International Congress on the Anthropology of Salt

The study of salt from an anthropological perspective provides a holistic view of its role in the evolution of human communities. Studies from around the world, ranging from prehistory to modern times, are here organized into 6 sections: theory, archaeology, history, ethnography/ ethnoarchaeology/ethnohistory, linguistics, and litera

Mirrors of Salt publishes the proceedings of the First International Congress on the Anthropology of Salt, which took place at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iasi (Romania). The impact of salt on the development of human communities, from the Neolithic to the present, has generated a huge number of specialized studies. However, scientific research has become so atomized that the primordial importance of the mineral has been lost, creating a need for a holistic, comprehensive vision of the dimensions generated by salt. This can only be achieved through anthropology. The anthropology of salt encompasses the entirety of human behavior, i.e. cognitive, spiritual, pragmatic, and social reactions to salt, and provides a holistic view of its role in the evolution of human communities. The anthropology of salt thus brings salt studies from an ancillary position to an autonomous discipline. The papers in this volume are organized into six sections: theory, archaeology, history, ethnography/ ethnoarchaeology/ethnohistory, linguistics, and literature. Topics include salt in Greek and Roman antiquity, as well as from Cameroon, Georgia, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Nigeria, Peru, Romania, Spain, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, the USA and Venezuela. The congress was organized within the project The Ethnoarchaeology of the Salt Springs and Salt Mountains from the Extra-Carpathian Areas of Romania, financed by the Government of Romania (CNCS – UEFISCDI) (2011-2016). Its theoretical novelty and geographical range render Mirrors of Salt a unique study of the world’s most-used non-metallic mineral.

Foreword - Marius Alexianu Theoretical Approaches Salt: Anthropology of a Quasi Amethodic Topic. Some Thoughts - Marius Alexianu The 'Sapientia' of Salt - Michele Zuppi, Paolo Zuppi, Elisabetta Rossi Archaeology The Qraya Salt Experiment. Reenacting Salt Production Processes of Protohistoric Mesopotamia - Beatrice Hopkinson, Giorgio Buccellati Considerations on Salt Exploitation in Bukovina, from Prehistory to Modern Times - Mugur Andronic, Bogdan P. Niculica Unique Cucuteni Artefacts Used in the Salt Recrystallization Process - Constantin Preoteasa The Exploitation and Control of Salt Sources from the Early Neolithic to Late Antiquity. Case study: Oglinzi - Bai area (Neam? County, Romania) - Vasile Diaconu, Gheorghe Dumitroaia A Tiny Story About Salt, Herding and Landscape in Chalcolithic and Late Bronze Age Eastern Romania - Neculai Bolohan, Lumini?a Bejenaru A Technological Approach to the Production Sequence at the Beaker Brine-Boiling Site of Molino Sanchon II (Villafafila, Zamora, Spain): Some Hypotheses about the Moulding of Salt using Organic Containers - Elisa Guerra-Doce, Francisco Javier Abarquero-Moras, German Delibes-de Castro Assessing the Role of Salt in the Spread of the Beaker Phenomenon across Western Europe during the Third Millennium BC - Elisa Guerra-Doce 'Reddish olle' and Production and Use of Salt: an Open Question - Tomaso Di Fraia Salt in Southwest Germany at the End of the Iron Age - Martin Hees Salt Control and Distribution in the Southern Part of Eastern Carpathians. A Story of a Lost Dacian Hillfort - Dan ?tefan, Bogdan Ciuperca Geophysical Prospections in the Area of the Salt Mine at Sanpaul - Alexandru Popa Salt Production as a Reflection of Inter-Ethnic Contact and Culture Change during Late Prehistory (AD 800-1100) in South Alabama, United States - Ashley A. Dumas Recent Archaeology of Salt in Southeastern North America - Ashley A. Dumas Towards an Archaeology of Salt Production in Ireland - Wes Forsythe, Rosemary McConkey, Colin Breen Where the Salt 'Kerns': Historical Archaeological Investigations at the Saltpans of the Venezuelan Islands, 17th-19th Century - Konrad A. Antczak History Salt Outlets: Which Statistical Profiles in the Roman Empire? - Bernard M. Moinier Underground Waters as a Source of Salt: Reflections on the Technological Variations of their Use in the South of Mexico - Blas R. Castellon Huerta Salt 'Roads' in Moldavia by the 18th Century: Production, Transportation and Consumption - Mihai-Cristian Amariutei, Ludmila Bacumenco-Pirnau, Lumini?a Bejenaru A Less Known Practice: Making Salt Cakes in Wooden Vessels. The Testimony of a Foreign Traveller to Moldavia - Vasile Diaconu, Roxana Diaconu Organization and Functioning of the Salt Extracting Industry in Bessarabia (1812-1850) - Andrei Emilciuc From Blessing to Punishment: The Salt Issue within the Romanian Landscape in the 19th Century as Seen by Foreign Travellers - Mircea-Cristian Ghenghea Use of Salt in the Christian Church of Late Antiquity: Literary and Archaeological Evidence - Ioan Iatcu The First Systematic Research on the Salt Springs of Bukovina: an Austrian Report from 1783 - Vasile Diacon Ethnography, Ethnoarchaeology, Ethnohistory Anthropological Studies of Salt in Mexico in the Last 20 Years: An Overview - Blas R. Castellon Huerta Huixtocihuatl. Goddess of Salt - Martha Monzon Flores Making Salt in Maras (Cusco, Peru): Traditional Salt Production Systems in the Context of Heritage Economy - Oriol Beltran Salt: a Crucial Feature of Mongolian Nomadism Success - Francesca Lugli The Role of the Oasis of Selima (Sudan) in the Long Distance Trade of Salty Rocks in the Sudanese Western Desert in the 19th and 20th Centuries - Franck Derrien, Coralie Gradel Usage of Salt in Therapy and as a Magical Cure among Mongolian Ethnic Groups - Dulam Sendenjav Salt in Georgia - Manana Odisheli Salt, History and Culture in the Western Grasslands of Cameroon - Henry Kam Kah Unity of Sacred and Profane in the Traditional Salt Industry of the Okposi Igbo of South-Eastern Nigeria - Peter-Jazzy Ezeh Salt in the Traditions of the Romanians. Notes for the Intangible Heritage in Dambovi?a County - Ana Ilie Traditional Use of Natural Brine. Ethnoarchaeological Research in the Subcarpathian Area of Romania - Felix-Adrian Tencariu, Andrei Asandulesei, Marius Alexianu Salt Symbolism in the Work of Elena Niculi?a-Voronca - Mihaela Asandulesei Ukrainian Traditional Salt Traders ('Chumaks') in the North of the Sea of Azov (Case Study of Berdyansk Area) - Igor Lyman, Victoria Konstantinova Linguistics Germanic Lexical Evidence that Clarifies the Multiple Meanings of the Old European Root *sal- - Adrian Poruciuc, Norbert Poruciuc Imagery of Salt in Romanian Phraseology. Cultural Aspects (Romania) - Petronela Savin The Morphosyntax of Salt-Related Words, Idioms, Similes and Proverbs in English and Romanian - Ileana Oana Macari Morphonyms Related to 'Slatina' and 'Slatioara' in Eastern Romania - Mihaela Asandulesei The Biography of the Romanian Expression a fagadui marea cu sarea (Romania) - Petronela Savin Literature Black Sea Salinity as a Reflection of Environmental and Climate Conditions in Ovid's Poems During the Exile Period in Tomis (SE Romania) - Roxana-Gabriela Curca, Alin Mihu-Pintilie Salt in Ancient Opsartytikon Literature - Mihaela Paraschiv Latin Testimonies on the Exploitation of Salt in 17th-18th Century Moldavia - Claudia Tarnauceanu,

Foreword – Marius AlexianuTheoretical Approaches
Salt: Anthropology of a Quasi Amethodic Topic. Some Thoughts – Marius Alexianu
The ‘Sapientia’ of Salt – Michele Zuppi, Paolo Zuppi, Elisabetta Rossi