The archaeology of salt, its extraction and exploitation is a still relatively esoteric theme, which has none the less in recent years been subjected to an increasing amount of attention in a range of geographical and environmental contexts. This volume is the product of investigations over the course of the past decade in what the study terms the Carpathian Zone – Transylvania, Ukraine, Slovakia and Poland. The evidence recovered from the sites discussed derives from a very considerable period, stretching in some cases from as early as the third millennium bc (for instance, pottery from Băile Figa, Romania), although the greater proportion of the evidence provided – through dendrochronological analysis – Late Bronze Age dates (from c 1000 bc), as well as dates for the Iron Age and early medieval (before ad 800) periods.
Anthony Harding is well known across the European archaeological diaspora, especially in relation to the archaeology of the Bronze Age. Valerii Kavruk will possibly be less well known to those in the western and north-western European sphere but he too has a long history of research, especially in relation to the archaeology of salt within the Carpathian region, and Harding and Kavruk combine together effectively.
The volume offers analysis of salt sources, exploitation of those sources and the movement of salt within the region in the context of fieldwork and research undertaken as part of a long-term project. It also provides a series of chapters and appendices which focus on associated technologies and sites, contributed by an impressive number of additional authors too numerous to list here. The initial three chapters introduce the project and traditions of salt extraction and use in the Transylvanian region, where the majority of the research took place and which makes up the largest body of discussion in the volume. Further chapters expand the data from Transylvania, Ukraine, Slovakia and Poland, and provide the geographical context of the research. Each of these chapters offers discussion of the fieldwork and research conducted and of pertinent sites and finds, including valuable discussion of surviving wooden evidence and technology: Dan Buzea’s contribution to the volume is particularly notable in this regard, detailing experimental work based on finds of wooden troughs and conducted at Băile Figa. A further chapter by Harding and Kavruk provides a concise discussion of Bronze Age salt production techniques, such as the briquetage technique of boiling brine to extract the salt, accompanied by a brief note on possible Iron Age techniques. The concluding chapter adds to the predominantly Bronze Age data with consideration of Iron Age and later salt production, and also offers thoughts regarding possible exchange mechanisms involving the acquisition of tin, as well as the future prospects of salt research in the region.
The appendices of the volume concentrate primarily upon recovered wooden evidence, cataloguing finds as well as discussing the dendrochronology, conservation and identification of samples, most of which derive from the Băile Figa site mentioned above. They provide helpful additional content and context for the discussions in the main body of the text.
Focused as it is on the output of a long-term research project, the volume is perhaps unintentionally somewhat less accessible for those without foreknowledge of salt archaeology. An introductory chapter that provided a somewhat wider perspective would have been beneficial. While the introductions to each chapter are admirable in providing the basis for each of their discussions, they require of the reader a broad knowledge of the overarching context. Recourse to the works listed within the volume’s bibliography would, however, provide that knowledge to interested readers.
The volume is well presented, and the inclusion of a considerable number of excellent colour photographs within the text adds much to the discussion. At times some of the data tables and diagrams appear a little cramped within the pages, and could perhaps have been expanded in size for better clarity, but that is a very minor point within what is predominantly a clearly defined and visually accessible volume.
A brief review such as this cannot do proper justice to the scope and depth of detail, data and potential of such a study, but the volume nevertheless represents an important addition to the growing body of research focused on the archaeology of salt. It is an extensive, detailed result of a comprehensive research project and makes a significant contribution to highlighting the place of salt in the prehistoric past, and in making accessible the associated data and evidence it is certainly worthy of wide notice.
