How did nomads get salt?

[Insignificant]

I'm just curious as to how people wandering around everywhere back in prehistoric times got salt.

[Imperium Dei]

Harvest, trade, or plunder Depends on who, when, and where you're talking about I suppose. Prehistoric Japanese (Jōmon) had rudimentary salt-gathering operations along coasts when they were largely nomadic, or semi-nomadic at best, and salt was mined in Austria in prehistoric times (Hallstatt), so it could theoretically come into the hands of nomadic people through those miners or other more sedentary producers like them if they had a desire for it. Odd note: the early Irish gathered salt by burning seaweed, and called it "sea ash."

[beowulf]

I'm just curious as to how people wandering around everywhere back in prehistoric times got salt.

For what purpose? I'm fairly certain that our biological need for sodium can be covered without access to salt. By eating meat for example.

[gagenater]

For what purpose? I'm fairly certain that our biological need for sodium can be covered without access to salt. By eating meat for example.

Actually I am fairly certain that outside of a few unusual diets it cannot be. However in most places and in most time periods salt has been fairly easy to get. Also salt is needed in much larger quantities than just the minimum to sustain life. Pre refrigeration nearly all food preservation involved at least some salting.

[beowulf]

Actually I am fairly certain that outside of a few unusual diets it cannot be. However in most places and in most time periods salt has been fairly easy to get.

I'm not certain I'm right, but I find this questionable on the grounds that for the vast majority of our evolutionary history we have not had the capacity to mine for salt or refine it from sea water. There may be other sources of mineral sodium that could have complemented our diet of course, but the greater part of our sodium intake would have had to come naturally from the biological foodstuffs we ate.

Also salt is needed in much larger quantities than just the minimum to sustain life. Pre refrigeration nearly all food preservation involved at least some salting.

I realize that salt can be used for preservation, but I can think of at least two methods of food preservation which pre-date refrigeration, do not necessarily require salt, and would have been readily available to even nomadic tribes: drying and fermentation.

[gagenater]

I'm not certain I'm right, but I find this questionable on the grounds that for the vast majority of our evolutionary history we have not had the capacity to mine for salt or refine it from sea water. There may be other sources of mineral sodium that could have complemented our diet of course, but the greater part of our sodium intake would have had to come naturally from the biological foodstuffs we ate.


I realize that salt can be used for preservation, but I can think of at least two methods of food preservation which pre-date refrigeration, do not necessarily require salt, and would have been readily available to even nomadic tribes: drying and fermentation.

Did a little research - apparently blood can supply pretty much all of a humans salt needs pretty easily.

However there are plenty of natural sources of salt besides that - you don't need to be able to mine salt. And refine from sea water? There's no refining needed unless you are looking for ultra pure salt for chemical uses. Just get sea water, let it evaporate (or boil it in very cold and very wet climates) If you really need salt badly for human consumption, just drink a little bit - 2 tablespoons contains the entire RDA of salt. As for rock salt, there are plenty of places where it is naturally at the surface, or where salt springs carry it to the surface. There are also places where impure salt is at the surface and a form of geophagy (dirt eating) people can eat enough salt to get by. There are also a number of plants that naturally concentrate salt in different parts of their systems. In the Eastern U.S. young hickory stems have a very high concentration and can be cooked/boiled down leaving behind salt crystals in the cooking container. Colts foot in the western U.S. and salt bush in the Rockies area can be burned and the ashes have a very high salt concentration. I am sure there are plants like this in Europe too, I just don't know what they are.

As for food processing - most/many drying methods call for some salt in the process - not really the case for fruits, but if you try drying meat with no salt to add to it, it will still spoil in a matter of weeks - good, but not ideal. Fermentation is usually not a major source of calories in societies until after they start sedentary agriculture. Prior to that time, the ability to get enough fermentable edible material (and the time and expertise required for brewing) usually meant that fermented things were a rare and unusual treat - not a common food item.

These may sound like odd/uncertain sources of salt, but remember we are talking about nomads. If they spend a month by a seashore each year, or trade with a tribe that does, or know a source of rock salt or a salt spring they can visit, then they are all set - no other effort required. Even lacking all these things, they can get enough salt to get by. It's not until people start to settle down in large numbers in agricultural societies that getting salt starts to become a problem. If they settle someplace without large reliable supplies of salt, then they are dependent either on trade, or expeditions to get salt from distant areas.

[beowulf]

Did a little research - apparently blood can supply pretty much all of a humans salt needs pretty easily.

However there are plenty of natural sources of salt besides that - you don't need to be able to mine salt. And refine from sea water? There's no refining needed unless you are looking for ultra pure salt for chemical uses. Just get sea water, let it evaporate (or boil it in very cold and very wet climates) If you really need salt badly for human consumption, just drink a little bit - 2 tablespoons contains the entire RDA of salt. As for rock salt, there are plenty of places where it is naturally at the surface, or where salt springs carry it to the surface. There are also places where impure salt is at the surface and a form of geophagy (dirt eating) people can eat enough salt to get by. There are also a number of plants that naturally concentrate salt in different parts of their systems. In the Eastern U.S. young hickory stems have a very high concentration and can be cooked/boiled down leaving behind salt crystals in the cooking container. Colts foot in the western U.S. and salt bush in the Rockies area can be burned and the ashes have a very high salt concentration. I am sure there are plants like this in Europe too, I just don't know what they are.

As for food processing - most/many drying methods call for some salt in the process - not really the case for fruits, but if you try drying meat with no salt to add to it, it will still spoil in a matter of weeks - good, but not ideal. Fermentation is usually not a major source of calories in societies until after they start sedentary agriculture. Prior to that time, the ability to get enough fermentable edible material (and the time and expertise required for brewing) usually meant that fermented things were a rare and unusual treat - not a common food item.

These may sound like odd/uncertain sources of salt, but remember we are talking about nomads. If they spend a month by a seashore each year, or trade with a tribe that does, or know a source of rock salt or a salt spring they can visit, then they are all set - no other effort required. Even lacking all these things, they can get enough salt to get by. It's not until people start to settle down in large numbers in agricultural societies that getting salt starts to become a problem. If they settle someplace without large reliable supplies of salt, then they are dependent either on trade, or expeditions to get salt from distant areas.

Carrying sea water with you is not really an option if you're a nomad. By refining, I simply meant the process of removing the water. That dried meat or fish would spoil in a matter of weeks without salt, is simply not true. Dried fish for example can keep for years. As for fermentation, I'm not talking about preparation of alcoholic beverages from grain or similar. There are examples of shark, fish and birds being fermented, particularly popular in the arctic regions. Also, milk from horse and cow is possible to ferment.
A third possibility for food preservation that I didn't think of before is smoking.
My only point here is really that while I don't doubt that nomads would have tried to get their hands on salt if they could, I don't think it would have been a necessary requirement for them to survive.

[gagenater]

Carrying sea water with you is not really an option if you're a nomad. By refining, I simply meant the process of removing the water. That dried meat or fish would spoil in a matter of weeks without salt, is simply not true. Dried fish for example can keep for years. .

Only for ocean fish - and in that case it's because the fish themselves already have enough salt in them/around them to meet the requirements. I wasn't talking about carrying seawater though - I was talking about consuming/using it when you were nearby. That would/could be enough to make up for shortages that might occur in other places during other parts of the year. Plus you can use that seawater to brine/pickle other foods that are more convenient to carry around.

As for fermentation, I'm not talking about preparation of alcoholic beverages from grain or similar. There are examples of shark, fish and birds being fermented, particularly popular in the arctic regions. Also, milk from horse and cow is possible to ferment..

agreed - I am just skeptical that these would be large enough food sources to be important enough in a prehistoric nomadic culture. All sorts of fermentation require either that you stay still while you do it, or do it in small volumes so you can carry it around. Either way I don't think it would be a method of preservation that nomads would be able to take much advantage of.

A third possibility for food preservation that I didn't think of before is smoking.
My only point here is really that while I don't doubt that nomads would have tried to get their hands on salt if they could, I don't think it would have been a necessary requirement for them to survive.

Completely agree - in most cases it just wasn't a major issue.

[beowulf]

agreed - I am just skeptical that these would be large enough food sources to be important enough in a prehistoric nomadic culture. All sorts of fermentation require either that you stay still while you do it, or do it in small volumes so you can carry it around. Either way I don't think it would be a method of preservation that nomads would be able to take much advantage of.

Well, part of the nature of a nomadic life style is that you move with the food.

[NapoleonComple]

I thought one of the tactics of nomadic societies was to move the food with you; as in keeping herds.

[hyder]

Only for ocean fish - and in that case it's because the fish themselves already have enough salt in them/around them to meet the requirements.

I am pretty sure you can dry sweet water fish without salt too. Not completely 100% sure but as a gambling man I would bet on it
(Saying this as a man who still this day dries his own meat, fish and mushrooms. Admittedly with salt, but still )

Another ways to preserve food are smoking and land cellars. Especially in the arctic regions where summers are mild and short a deep land cellar filled with ice works just like a prehistoric refrigerator.

[beowulf]

I thought one of the tactics of nomadic societies was to move the food with you; as in keeping herds.

Not necessarily. Following the wild herds pre-dates keeping tame herds. Also, moving between summer and winter hunting grounds is another nomadic tactic.

[gagenater]

I thought one of the tactics of nomadic societies was to move the food with you; as in keeping herds.

Obviously this is ideal, but it's not going to work all the time - there will be times when a large enough herd isn't practical, when they are foaling/birthing and you dont' want to kill them, when they fail for some reason, if the region you live in isn't conducive to herd animals, etc. Any way you look at it if your society is going to make it ya gotta have a backup plan.

[Herbert West]

Also: most of the did not. Pre-20th century, the history of human food is one of deficiencies.