http://english1.people.com.cn/200508/23/eng20050823_204173.html Archaeologists find evidence of large-scale salt production in ancient China Large-scale salt production occurred during the first millennium before Christ in the earliest "workshops" yet uncovered in China, archaeologists reported on Monday. In a latest joint study, researchers from China and US found multiple lines of evidence of salt production at Zhongba, an archeological site lying along the Yangzi River in Zhong Xian County, Chongqing, China. Their paper is published on the on-line issue of the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. The authors from the Harvard University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Science and Technology of China, are all internationally acknowledged archaeologists. Salt production and trade is thought to be critical to the development of all states and emergent empires. Until now, however, scientific evidence of early salt production has rarely been presented, and no studies of early Chinese salt production have provided unequivocal proof. But the four lines of evidence at Zhongba demonstrate that the main product of the site was salt, said the researchers. Several lines of historical and cross-cultural analogy point to salt production. Pottery and ceramic vessels and debris excavated from Zhongba are "structurally similar to ethnographically and historically identified salt production facilities from Mexico, Africa, and elsewhere," said the researchers. The second indicator is the similarity between the chemical composition of local brine and soil samples from archaeological features that are also thought to be salt production facilities. Analyzing local soil from production features with X-ray fluorescence, the researchers found higher levels of calcium and magnesium as the results of salt production. The third data set comes from x-ray diffraction analysis of residues found on the pottery at Zhongba. The mineral compositions of these residues are consistent with those residues found on ancient salt-boiling pan, said the researchers. The fourth line of evidence, according to the paper, is traces of sodium chloride on the interior surface of ceramic vessels. Using a scanning electron microscope with an energy dispersive spectrometer, the researchers said the ancient Chinese used these vessels to boil salt from brine. Therefore, the researchers concluded that salt production was the most significant activity at Zhongba during the first millennium B.C. "Furthermore, the homogeneity of the ceramic assemblage during Phases I and II suggests that salt production may already have been significant in this area throughout the second millennium B.C." they suggested in the paper. The work, representing the oldest confirmed example of pottery-based salt production yet found in China, also provides an early example of salt production discovered in China and presents a methodology for evaluating salt production sites in other regions, noted the researchers. Source: Xinhua People's Daily Online --- http://english.people.com.cn/ --

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