Die erste Steinsalzgewinnung Europas und der Tauschhandel als wirtschaftlicher Dynamisierer der mittleren Jungsteinzeit in Katalonien

Das Vall Salina von Cardona (Katalonien, Spanien)

Abstract

The first European extraction of rock salt and its exchange as an economic catalysator in Middle Neolithic Catalonia. The Vall Salina in Cardona (Catalonia, Spain)

This paper attempts a balance of our results of the first European exploitation of rock salt generated in the Muntanya de sal of Cardona, the only rock salt mountain in Western Europe. Our intention is not to focus exclusively on the Vall Salina, but also to think about the role of salt in the circulation of different materials and goods specific to the Catalonian Middle Neolithic. For this purpose, we will confront at the same time the hypothesis about the origin of the rocks used as mining tools used for extraction and modelling rock salt and the information about the circulation of other regional prestige goods (variscite pearls, shell bracelets) and other exogenous raw materials (flint from the Vaucluse, Alpine rocks). Crossing the information has made it possible to evaluate the socio-economic role of salt in intercommunitary trade and to propose privileged axes of circulation.