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SALT-MAKING IN MESOAMERICA: PRODUCTION SITES AND TOOL ASSEMBLAGES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2021

Eduardo Williams Open the ORCID record for Eduardo Williams [Opens in a new window]
Eduardo Williams*
Affiliation:
Centro de Estudios Arqueológicos, El Colegio de Michoacán, Martínez de Navarrete 505, Zamora de Hidalgo, CP 59699 Michoacán, Mexico
*
E-mail correspondence to: [email protected]
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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.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , Spring 2023 , pp. 1 - 23
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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