From a contemporary perspective it is easy to underestimate the importance of salt in the history of mankind. Today, salt is cheap and available everywhere. This, however, stands in sharp contrast with past conditions. Although salt is an essential element in the human diet, it was not readily available for everyone in prehistoric and historic times and salt was remarkably expensive ("white gold"). Although the Caribbean environment is extremely suited for the natural production of salt and historic accounts confirm the high quality of salt from this region (George Washington demanded Turks Island salt to pickle meat for his troops), salt as an exchange commodity has been neglected in archaeological studies in the Caribbean region. This research examines the role of salt and the economic activities related to this resource at the pre-Columbian archaeological site MC-6 on Middle Caicos. New methods will be employed to overcome the relative invisibility of salt in the archaeological record. Dr. William Keegan, Curator of Caribbean Archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, and Joost Morsink, a graduate student at the University of Florida, explore the importance of salt as an exchange commodity in the prehistoric Caribbean archipelago.
MC-6 is a unique archaeological site in the Caribbean. Previous research conducted at MC-6 determined that its size and structural layout are incomparable to any other site in the region. The physical location of the site, in proximity to the salt-producing Armstrong Pond and an abundance of marine resources, indicates that the site's status was related to specific available resources. However, the direct relation between the settlement, architectural features and the availability of salt in the salt pond has not been tested. This research focuses on two areas. First, coring and sampling in the salt pond will provide detailed information on the historical developments of the pond and will determine if salt was available at the time people were living in MC-6. Second, excavations in the settlement will inform on the economic activities people were practicing within the settlement. Soil samples are used to determine whether people were transporting materials from the salt pond to the site and if specific structural features at MC-6 were utilized as storage facilities of salt and salted fish.
This research is significant because it explores economic activities related to salt, a topic that has received little attention in previous research. Moreover, this project will test the potential of new methods, such as coring and sampling of salt ponds and soil samples from within the habitation site to investigate the importance of this resource in prehistoric times. This project involves multiple institutions and national agencies; The Florida Museum of Natural History; the Department of Anthropology at the University of Florida; the Department of Environmental and Coastal Resources; the National Environmental Centre; The Turks & Caicos National Trust; and The Turks & Caicos National Museum; all of whom have offered their enthusiastic support. Finally, as a continuation of previous field projects at MC-6, a presentation will be given to the local school on Middle Caicos to raise awareness and knowledge about the prehistoric past on the island.
This project determined that people started inhabiting MC-6, which is an archaeological site located on the southern edge of Middle Caicos (Turks & Caicos Islands, southern Bahamas) when salt became available in the nearby salt pond. Cores from the pond showed that the history of the pond was dynamic and salt was not always available. However, at approximately 1350 C.E., the pond was closed from the nearby Caicos Bank which reduced the influx of new water and made salt production through solar evaporation possible. The earliest dates from excavations at the location where people were living yielded similar dates. The strong relation between the availability of salt at the pond and the initial period of habitation suggests that people permanently moved into this area as soon as salt was available. The economic exploitation of salt was a major incentive for Native people in the Caribbean archipelago to settle new islands and in some cases inhospitable locations. Despite the invisibility of salt in the archaeological record, coring and dating the different historical episodes of the pond, and comparing these historical sequences to the occupation history of the village, proved to be successful at making the importance of salt ‘visible’. Rather than trying to understand the archaeological record from excavated materials, this project purposefully intended to find data specifically related to salt and salt production. Although archaeologists often acknowledge the importance of perishable materials in regional economies, few have actively explored ways to understand these hidden aspects. This project encourages archaeologists in the region to look for indirect material evidence that still suggests the importance of these perishable materials. Finally, this project contributed to social theory. MC-6 was a village of social, political and ideological importance, as its structural layout with a formalized plaza, stone structures and structural alignments referencing the sun and several bright stars, such as the Orion constellation, are unknown at any other site in the region. The evidence supports the conclusion that MC-6 must have been special due to the availability of salt. Rather than establishing the importance of MC-6 to material qualities of salt, such as the human dietary need for salt or qualities to preserve meats and fish, emphasis must be placed on how people use these qualities. Material qualities do not establish powerful villages and cities, people do. This study argues that people were utilizing the material qualities of salt to accumulate large amounts of fish and other marine resources beyond the immediate need of the village, and then preserved these resources to engage in exchange over long distances. These preserved products could either be exchanged for other products, or gifted away. The act of giving would change the social relation between the receiver and donor, because the donor establishes a debt that the receiver has to compensate at another time, sometimes with interest. In other words, the material qualities of salt (the ability to preserve meats and fish) was employed by people at MC-6 to transform perishable fish into a durable item that could be exchange and gifted, creating social relations of debt and superiority. This project is the first to focus specifically on salt as an important resource for people in the Caribbean region before Columbus. It also raises attention for the significance of perishable materials in these economies, including other products such as cotton. Finally, it argues for the importance of human practices, and how people utilized materials in their environment to engage, negotiate and manipulate social relations.
