Data di Pubblicazione:
2018
Citazione:
Fish and salt: the successful recipe of White Nile Mesolithic hunter-gatherer-fishers / L. Maritan, P. Iacumin, A. Zerboni, G. Venturelli, G. Dal Sasso, V. Linseele, S. Talamo, S. Salvatori, D. Usai. - In: JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE. - ISSN 1095-9238. - 92(2018 Apr), pp. 48-62. [10.1016/j.jas.2018.02.008]
Abstract:
In prehistoric hunter-gatherer-fisher communities, demographic growth and a more sedentary life-style are
usually associated with locally concentrated food resources. Technologies believed to have been employed
for preserving excess food resources include, among many others, salting, smoking, and/or sun-drying of
fish and meat. However, direct proof of salting is often lacking, as salt is highly soluble. We present here
the first robust evidence of the earliest known examples of fish salting from Middle Mesolithic structures at
an archaeological site in Central Sudan (7th millennium BC). A multidisciplinary approach was applied, including
a contextual geomorphological study (field analysis; micromorphological and scanning electron microscopy),
a mineralogical-microstructural analysis of salt crystallization (X-ray diffraction, scanning electron
microscopy), and a chemical analysis of salt concentration (ionic chromatography) in the soil in which salted
fish bones have been found. The results indicate that salting fish with the aim of preserving it was common
at the site of Al Khiday since the Middle Mesolithic and this habit cannot be related to post-depositional precipitation
due to aridification of the area. A clear-cut emphasis on fishing characterized the economy of the
human population of the time. This foraging system, together with salting and storing fish seems to be closely
connected with its nearly sedentary status.
Tipologia IRIS:
01 - Articolo su periodico
Keywords:
food conservation; fish salting; Halite; Mesolithic; reduced mobility; Sudan
Elenco autori:
L. Maritan, P. Iacumin, A. Zerboni, G. Venturelli, G. Dal Sasso, V. Linseele, S. Talamo, S. Salvatori, D. Usai
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