My Halle (Saale): Making White Gold Since 3000 BC
What do the following six towns and cities have in common?
- Hall in Tirol, Austria
- Hallein, Austria
- Hallstatt, Austria
- Schwäbisch Hall, Germany
- Bad Reichenhall, Germany
- Halle an der Saale, Germany
Hall, more than a large covered room
With “hall” in their names, all six towns listed above are historically associated with salt production1,2,3. The word “salt” is represented in Greek as hals and in Celtic (Brythonic) as hal. In pre-Roman Europe, the towns of Halle, Hallstatt, and Hallein were three centres for salt-evaporation4 which eventually became salt-making centres for the surrounding regions of Prussian Saxony, Salzkammergut, and Salzburg, respectively. Archaeological finds around Halle and along the Saale river5 uncovered evidence of heated brine (at Doläuer Heide) from the mid-neolithic age (about 3000 BCE) and briquetage ceramic vessels from the late-Bronze age (about 1000 BCE).
Mark Kurlansky wrote1: “… Salt is so common, so easy to obtain, and so inexpensive that we have forgotten that from the beginning of civilization until about 100 years ago, salt was one of the most sought after commodities in human history.”
Once a rarity, salt was a unique additive to improve quality of food preparation and consumption. Food preservation with salt also became a critical measure for survival, but also for improving the quality of food preparation and consumption. Whoever controlled salt production, sales, and distribution held power, wealth, and prestige.
German sayings with salt:
• “Freundschaft ist des Lebens Salz.” (Friendship is the salt of life.)
• “Das Essen ist versalzen, du bist verliebt.” (The food is too salty; you must be in love.)
