A Millennium of Salt Production in Southwest Alabama

Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, 2015

Southeastern Archaeology, 2014

Salt in Eastern North America and the Caribbean: History and Archaeology, 2021

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Ancient Mesoamerica, 2021

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.

El Palacio, 1976

El Palacio. ISSN: 0031-0158 Economic anthropology Cultural anthropology Indian salt trade Pueblo Indians Piro Indians Jumano Indians Tompiro Indians Apache Indians Plains Indians Spaniards Salt Salt use Salt trade Salt trade patterns Antiquities History New Mexico Salinas Province Torrance County (N.M.) Estancia Valley (N.M.) Abo (N.M.) Gran Quivira (N.M.) Quarai Pueblo (N.M.)

The Pecos River of southeastern New Mexico and west Texas is among the saltiest rivers in North America with streamflow salinity regularly exceeding 7,000 mg L-1 at the New Mexico and Texas border, and eventually exceeding 12,000 mg L-1 at Girvin, Texas. It originates in northeastern New Mexico, flows through the semi-arid part of New Mexico and west Texas, and merges into the Rio Grande just below the historical town of Langtry (Fig. 1). The diversion from this river, estimated at 224 million m3 (180,000 acre-ft.) per year, is mostly above Red Bluff, mainly for irrigating an estimated 25,000 ha (60,000 acre) of crop lands in New Mexico. The water stored in Red Bluff is also used for irrigating comparatively small areas (less than 4,000 ha) in west Texas. The area irrigated with ground water is much greater. High salinity of the river has adversely affected stability and diversity of the riparian and aquatic ecosystem (e.g., Hart, 2004; El-Hage and Moulton, 1998; Davis, 1987) as wel...