Nikolov said the settlement near Provadia was home to some 350 people who likely produced salt from the nearby rock-salt deposits.
"They boiled brine from salt springs in kilns, baked it into bricks, which were then exchanged for other commodities with neighboring tribes," Nikolov said, citing as possible evidence the gold and copper jewellery and artifacts that have been unearthed in the region.
The most valuable is a collection of 3,000 gold pieces unearthed 40 years ago near the Black Sea city of Varna. It is believed to be the oldest gold treasure in the world.
"For millenniums, salt was one of the most valued commodities, salt was the money," Nikolov said adding that this explained the massive stone walls meant to keep the salt safe.
The two-storey houses, as well as the copper needles and pottery found in graves at the site, suggest a community of wealthy people whose likely work was the once-lucrative production of salt.Al Jazeera
Europe's 'oldest town' found in Bulgaria
Of course, salt had absolutely no value to anyone ever in the ancient world and, consistent with the ludicrous "state theory of money" it was arbitrarily declared to be money in lieu of 85 pound bags of belly button lint by a vicious and arbitrary tyrant.
ReplyDeleteWe know that there was intergroup trading in commodities in the ancient world, and there were many widely desirable scarce commodities that were used for this purpose. It's well documented and no one is arguing that. That community was clearly using salt in trade. There is no evidence of which I am aware that it was being used as a medium of exchange in that community, where, in fact, it was not scarce.
ReplyDeleteThere is some evidence that the word "salary" derives from the Roman word for salt, and that Roman soldiers were at one stage paid with salt.
ReplyDeleteIn the Middle East, Dates (the fruit) were also used as money. But what is important about this, and is stated in the Q'uran somewhere, that when dates are used as money, the quality of the dates is not to be considered, but only the number! In other words, all utility value for the "dates as money" is taken out, and only the exchange value is to be considered.
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