Salt-Making in Mesoamerica: Production Sites and Tool Assemblages

Abstract

Common salt, or sodium chloride, has always been a strategic resource of primary importance throughout the world. In pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica, salt was used primarily for human consumption, as the native diet had little chloride or sodium, two chemical components that are indispensable for human health and nutrition. Here I discuss the traditional salt industries of Michoacán, Colima, Guerrero, the Basin of Mexico and Puebla, paying special attention to the production sites and the tool assemblages linked to salt production in these areas of Mesoamerica. This article sheds light on salt's role in the culture and history of the ancient Mesoamerican ecumene through the lens of ethnoarchaeology and ethnohistory.

Relict canals of the Tehuacán Valley, Mexico: A Middle- to Late-Holocene dryland socio-hydrological system

“…These mounds, which are made up of spent soils from the extraction of salts from evaporation pans and the direct extraction of salts from soil, are a common site-type in the valley bottoms, and they are in direct association with tecuates (Neely et al, 1997). Salt processing was a major economic pursuit in Mesoamerica (Williams, 2009(Williams, , 2021. The Tehuacán region played an important role in salt extraction since at least the Classic period (Castellon Huerta, 2016;Neely et al, 1997;Ramírez Sorensen, 1996, 2008, as a province of the Aztec Empire (Berdan et al, 1996), and in the Colonial period for silver processing (Probert, 1969).…”

Briquetage and Brine: Living and Working at the Classic Maya Salt Works of Ek Way Nal, Belize

“…A wooden canoe with a hole in the base and funnel below from the Eleanor Betty site was likely used to hold salty soil during brine enrichment (McKillop et al 2014). Williams (2021) reports several earthen mounds at contemporary salt works in west Mexico, likely similar to the earthen mounds at the Placencia Lagoon Salt Works (Sills 2016) and Northern River Lagoon (Masson and Mock 2004) that lack wooden buildings. In fact, Ek Way Nal may provide a model for these and other brine-boiling sites along the coast of Belize where wood has not preserved, including Marco Gonzalez (Graham and Pendergast 1989), Wits Cah Ak'al (Murata 2011), and Moho Cay (McKillop 2004), as well as others (McKillop 2019).…”

“…The same process of salt production is carried out using salt springs elsewhere in the Maya highlands, including San Mateo Ixtatán and Ixapa (Andrews 1983), but Sacapulas has the most detailed record, likely since salt was still being produced when Reina and Monaghan (1981) carried out their field research. Brine-boiling is a common method worldwide, currently and in the past, with summaries for Mesoamerica (Andrews 1983; McKillop 2019, 2021; Williams 2021) and elsewhere throughout the world (Brigand and Weller 2015; Li and von Falkenhausen 2010). Variations on brine-boiling, including the use of large pans to evaporate brine that has been concentrated in salinity in raised wooden devices, are described in studies elsewhere in Mesoamerica (Castellon 2016; Liot 2000; Williams 2021).…”

“…Brine-boiling is a common method worldwide, currently and in the past, with summaries for Mesoamerica (Andrews 1983; McKillop 2019, 2021; Williams 2021) and elsewhere throughout the world (Brigand and Weller 2015; Li and von Falkenhausen 2010). Variations on brine-boiling, including the use of large pans to evaporate brine that has been concentrated in salinity in raised wooden devices, are described in studies elsewhere in Mesoamerica (Castellon 2016; Liot 2000; Williams 2021). Brine-boiling in central Mexico used fresh or salty water to enrich the salinity in soil from lake beds along lakeshores, resulting in different flavors and colors of salt (Parsons 2001).…”

Household salt production by the Late Classic Maya: underwater excavations at Ta'ab Nuk Na

“…Evidence for the former is found on the north coast of the Yucatán, where production may have been controlled by nearby inland cities, with distribution facilitated via coastal trading ports, especially in the Postclassic period (AD 900-1500) (Andrews 1983;Kepecs 2003). Meanwhile, evidence for the evaporation of brine in pots-in the form of briquetage, or coarse vessels and associated ceramic material-is documented at 'salt kitchen' sites along the coasts of Belize and Guatemala (McKillop 2019); the boiling of brine was also practised near inland salt springs (Williams 2021). In this article, we report on the discovery of a Late Classic-period residential building and three associated salt kitchens that supported the surplus household production of salt at Ta'ab Nuk Na, the largest of the Paynes Creek Salt Works in Belize (Figure 1).…”