Salt of the North-Central Anatolia (Turkey)

Abstract

Salt, which is a very important dietary component for humans and animals, occurs in Anatolia (Turkey) in beds and masses of rock salt or as evaporate. It has a practical value for activities like food preparation, tanning, drying meat, or pickling as well as bearing a symbolic value and magical attributions. Research has focused on locations and various procurement methods at certain locales of Anatolia (ex. Salt Lake, Turkey) mostly from a perspective of human interaction with salt via archaeological and ethnoarchaeological evidence. This paper will extend value of salt to animals at highland communities in the north-central Anatolia and will focus both the economic and symbolic significance of salt at the region. By using archaeological, ethnoarchaeological and textual evidence, I will reassess the use of salt at the region by particularly concentrating on the Bronze Ages.