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Prehistoric Salt Production at El Salado, Veracruz, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Robert S. Santley
Robert S. Santley*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131
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Abstract

El Salado is a prehispanic salt production site located in the Tuxtla Mountains of southern Veracruz, Mexico. Fieldwork at the site was conducted to determine the methods of salt production, the character of the archaeological residues produced, the scale of the industry, and the history of production. El Salado contains two major occupations, the first dating to the Early Formative period and the second to the Late Classic period. During the Early Formative, solar evaporation in pottery trays was the primary method of salt production. This method was supplemented by some salt-making that involved boiling brine in tecomates. During the Late Classic, in contrast, boiling salt water became the preferred method of production. Late Classic brine reduction involved a two-step process. The salt level in the brine was first increased by boiling in collared jars. This brine was later reduced to loaves by boiling in shallow pottery vessels called cazuelas.

El Salado es un sitio arqueológico utilizado para la producción de sal, ubicado dentro de las montañas de Tuxtla en el sur del estado de Veracruz, México. Estudios arqueológicos recientes que se realizaron en el sitio tenían los siguientes objetivos: deteminar los métodos utilizados prehistóricamente para la producción de sal, identificar los tipos de materiales arqueológicos que quedan, y establecer el tamaño y la cronología de la industria. El Salado tuvo dos ocupaciones mayores. La primera esta fechado al periodo Formativo Temprano y la segunda alperiodo Clásico Tardío. Durante elperiodo Formativo Temprano, se utilizaron evaporación solar con las charlotas de cerámica como la forma principal para la producción de sal. También se uso otro método que consista en “la salmuera en tecomates,” pero en escala menor. En contraste, en el periodo Clásico Tardío parece que el método preferido de producción fue hervir la agua salada. En esta segunda época de producción, el proceso de reducir la salmuera ocurrió en dos fases. Primero, aumentaron el nivel de la sal en la salmuera herviendolo en jarras con cuellos. Luego se reduzco la salmuera a un bloque de sal cuando se lo hervía en vasijas bajas que se llaman “cazuelas.”

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , June 2004 , pp. 199 - 221
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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