Salt

Prospector’s Corner

Salt is present in our everyday lives. It is produced by boiling brine, evaporating seawater or mining rock salt (halite) underground. A lack of salt causes chemical imbalances in the human body, disrupting the functioning of our muscles, digestive system, nervous system and heart. Livestock feed must also include salt. In other words, all animals and most living things on this planet cannot survive without salt. The oldest evidence of salt mining dates back 9,000 years in China, and the oldest European site dates back 8,000 years. Salt production made it possible to preserve food and has been linked to the rise of agriculture and livestock farming. The use of salt has been cited among the Hebrews and Greeks since ancient times. In ancient Rome, salt was used to curry favour with the gods. Salt was also a currency in many other parts of the world, such as Tibet, Mongolia and Ethiopia. The word salary, from the Latin salarium, refers to the money Roman soldiers were allotted to buy salt (De Wever and Rouchy, 2016).