Confirmation of our salt session at the Theoretical Archaeology Group 2013 conference - TAG-on-Sea at Bournemouth University 16-18 December 2013.
The half day session on salt will include six presentations and a workshop.
For details of the whole conference, booking details and local accommodation go to the
TAG-on-Sea site.
SESSION DETAILS
Exploring ancient and traditional
salt-production sites in their environs and moving towards better ways of
investigation and interpretation: New Research
Session Abstract:
This session provides an overview of current and new approaches to the
investigation and interpretation of ancient and traditional salt-production
sites. Earlier studies of salt-production have often
been limited by a lack of well-preserved sites and a bias in the evidence
preserved, resulting in a heavy reliance on briquetage form studies. Fortunately, the investigation and revealing
of new sites in the last two decades, as well as new projects exploring and
preservation of traditional salt-production, which can greatly inform on
ancient techniques and organisation, have significantly accelerated and
expanded our understanding of this important industry. This session firstly explores the creation of
Ecosal; a project bringing together traditional salt-production sites and salt
makers from different countries. Then
there is an emphasis on research which aims to contextualise earlier
salt-production in their greater environs, including organisation of
production, the impact of production on surrounding landscape, and the use of
modern techniques (LIDAR) to enrich the number of known sites as well as their
position in the landscape. New
approaches to briquetage studies will also presented, which aims to explore new
ways in which this material can be used to reconstruct technique, as well as
use of space (in the workshop). New
ways of sampling sites will also be discussed.
At the end of the session there will also be the opportunity for the
speakers and the audience to contribute to a workshop focused on pragmatic and
much needed strategies to investigate and make sense of salt-production sites
in the archaeological record. This will
include discussion and debate about the best way that this can be achieved, and
the issues arising when working with these often challenging sites.
Workshop Abstract:
Realising potential and getting the most out of the site: Exploring the Identification, processing and
interpretation of a prehistoric/Roman salt-production site. This workshop will provide an arena for the sharing
of experience gained from the archaeological investigation and subsequent
interpretation of these sites.
Identifying and making sense of these often fragmented sites can be
challenging, as well as the processing of potentially vast quantities of briquetage. However, with a prior understanding of the
way space can be used in these sites, as well as the types of features that can
be expected, and their relationship to each part of the process, it is possible
to reconstruct much about these sites, even with limited evidence. The method of processing these sites is also
important, and sampling of briquetage as well as the removal of systematic
environmental samples, can greatly enrich understanding of these sites. Finally, the significance and position of
these sites in the wider landscape and environs, which has been traditionally
less focused upon in the past, can provide much context as to the modes of
organisation, as well as areas of more intense production, and the potential
environmental impact of these sites on their surroundings. This workshop provides an opportunity to
share key information and new methods, as well as an opportunity for questions
and aims to ‘demystify’ these sites and look toward the creation of a framework
for future work.
Chair: TBC
SPEAKERS/PAPERS:
1.
Andrew
Fielding :
Introducing
ECOSAL-UK : What can a new body do?
2.
Sarah-Jane
Hathaway :
The creation of new modes as a
tool for exploring the organisation of Iron Age and Romano-British
salt-production in southern Britain
3.
Tom Lane:
Lidar,
Landscape and the pursuit of coastal salterns
4.
Nicholas Branch, Naomi Riddiford, Larent Oliver, Christopher Green, Simon Armitage, Kevin Williams, Rob Batchelor and Mathew Smith:
Evaluating the environmental impact
of prehistoric industrial scale salt production in the Seille Valley, NE France
5.
Mark Brisbane, John Beavis, Brian Astin, Iain Green :
Bitter
briquetage: Some preliminary thoughts on the role of fired clay in the removal
of bitterns in salt
6.
Frank Green:
Chlorites,
sulphites, silica and carbon; sampling Lymington’s salt works
7.
WORKSHOP and
discussion: 90 minutes
