Salt mining tools and techniques from Duzdaği (Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan) in the 5th to 3rd millennium B.C.

Abstract

The emergence of mining reflects profound changes in the organization of late prehistoric societies. In terms of lithic and ore mining, salt is a highly strategic mineral resource which was exploited for its dietary and healing properties. The exceptional prehistoric salt mine of Duzdaği (Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan) is located in a high salt-bearing region centered on the Aras River in the Lesser Caucasus. Field survey, spatial recording of archaeological materials and use-wear analysis of macrolithic tools have allowed us to outline the mining operations and techniques there from the Chalcolithic period onwards. We have identified workshops for the manufacture and repair of tools, as well as salt extraction and processing areas.

Keywords:

• salt production
• mining techniques
• Chalcolithic
• Bronze Age
• Caucasus
• use-wear analysis

Acknowledgments

This study was carried out between 2008 and 2011 as part of the Araxe Research Programme funded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and directed by C. Marro, in collaboration with Véli Bashvaliev of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences at Nakhchivan. We would like to thank the survey team: S. Sanz and N. Aliyev who conducted the survey campaigns, as well as E. Aliyev, R. Berthon, E. Bouet, J. Cavero, P. Dessaint, K. Dupinay and N. Gailhard. We would also like to thank the current engineer of the mine as well as the director of the Nakhchivan Museum and his team for their warm welcome. Many thanks to G. Fronteau (GEGENAA, Reims University) for the petrographic analysis. We are grateful to the CNES and the ISIS programme, which enabled us to purchase the Spot 5 satellite photo. The English version of this text was translated from French by K. Mazurié de Keroualin and R. Cronin-Allanic.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2016.1201615

ORCiD

Caroline Hamon http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3314-9525

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Caroline Hamon

Caroline Hamon (Ph.D. 2004, Pantheon Sorbonne University, Paris) is a Researcher at CNRS. She is particularly interested in food practices, craft activities, and mineral resource exploitation during the Neolithic and Metal Ages in different contexts, including north-western Europe, western Mediterranean, and the Caucasus.