Middle Holocene Salt Production on the North Coast of Peru

Salt is a commodity valued for nutrition; seasoning, drying, and storing food; tanning hides; and its social and economic role in exchange systems. This study reports on salt caches and manufactured disks from Middle Holocene (∼5500–4000 cal BP) archaeological sites on the north coast of Peru. During this period, salt extraction occurred at a time of rising sea levels and wetland development in the littoral of the Chicama Valley, where maritime foragers and farmers cohabited and probably exchanged salt and marine products with inland populations for exotic food crops, minerals, and other resources. The findings here add to a growing body of archaeological evidence on the environments, techniques, and uses of salt extraction by early precontact societies.