| Abstract: |
Salt making has not previously been a subject of scientific debate in Vietnam, either in archaeological or in historical studies. Throughout remembered history, salt ahas been obtained easily by the simple solar evaporation of seawater in salt fields stretching endlessly along the coast, where even today it is collected and sold cheaply by poor salt farmers. Recently, a newly discovered prehistoric site in southern Vietnam containing salt-boiling ceramics (briquetage) from the first millennium BC has elicited a controversial debate about the origin of salt making in Vietnam, as well as on the methods used to produce salt during earlier historical epochs. This site Gò Ô Chùa, provides the point of departure for the present paper.
|
