The Role of Saltmarsh Plants in Iron Age and Roman Salt Production in the Thames Estuary, UK

Analysis of plant remains and soils collected during excavations of the Iron Age and Roman Period salt production site at Stanford Wharf Nature Reserve on the coast of Essex have shown that saltmarsh plants and adhering sediments had been used as fuel to evaporate brine and crystallise the sea salt....

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Autor principal:	Edward Biddulph
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	EXARC 2016
Materias:	salt experiment iron age roman era united kingdom Museums. Collectors and collecting AM1-501 Archaeology CC1-960
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/40d75c55deea4c379f2f7dc0930feaad
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:40d75c55deea4c379f2f7dc0930feaad2021-12-01T14:42:32ZThe Role of Saltmarsh Plants in Iron Age and Roman Salt Production in the Thames Estuary, UK2212-8956https://doaj.org/article/40d75c55deea4c379f2f7dc0930feaad2016-02-01T00:00:00Zhttps://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10230https://doaj.org/toc/2212-8956Analysis of plant remains and soils collected during excavations of the Iron Age and Roman Period salt production site at Stanford Wharf Nature Reserve on the coast of Essex have shown that saltmarsh plants and adhering sediments had been used as fuel to evaporate brine and crystallise the sea salt. It was further suggested in report of the fieldwork (Biddulph et al. 2012) that the ash of the fuel was itself a useful by-product, being steeped in the brine to create a stronger solution. The idea was not tested at the time that the report was being prepared, but in this paper, I report on experiments designed to test that hypothesis. The results show that burnt samphire (representative of saltmarsh plants), when steeped in seawater, enhances the salinity of the water, resulting in a brine that is more concentrated than one created from seawater alone. What is more, given an equal volume of brine, the brine and ash solution yields a higher amount of salt than does the seawater-only brine. The experiments support the suggestion made in the Stanford Wharf report, and have implications for the understanding of coastal salt production in the Iron Age and Roman period.Edward BiddulphEXARCarticlesaltexperimentiron ageroman eraunited kingdomMuseums. Collectors and collectingAM1-501ArchaeologyCC1-960ENEXARC Journal, Iss 2016/1 (2016)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	salt experiment iron age roman era united kingdom Museums. Collectors and collecting AM1-501 Archaeology CC1-960
spellingShingle	salt experiment iron age roman era united kingdom Museums. Collectors and collecting AM1-501 Archaeology CC1-960 Edward Biddulph The Role of Saltmarsh Plants in Iron Age and Roman Salt Production in the Thames Estuary, UK
description	Analysis of plant remains and soils collected during excavations of the Iron Age and Roman Period salt production site at Stanford Wharf Nature Reserve on the coast of Essex have shown that saltmarsh plants and adhering sediments had been used as fuel to evaporate brine and crystallise the sea salt. It was further suggested in report of the fieldwork (Biddulph et al. 2012) that the ash of the fuel was itself a useful by-product, being steeped in the brine to create a stronger solution. The idea was not tested at the time that the report was being prepared, but in this paper, I report on experiments designed to test that hypothesis. The results show that burnt samphire (representative of saltmarsh plants), when steeped in seawater, enhances the salinity of the water, resulting in a brine that is more concentrated than one created from seawater alone. What is more, given an equal volume of brine, the brine and ash solution yields a higher amount of salt than does the seawater-only brine. The experiments support the suggestion made in the Stanford Wharf report, and have implications for the understanding of coastal salt production in the Iron Age and Roman period.
format	article
author	Edward Biddulph
author_facet	Edward Biddulph
author_sort	Edward Biddulph
title	The Role of Saltmarsh Plants in Iron Age and Roman Salt Production in the Thames Estuary, UK
title_short	The Role of Saltmarsh Plants in Iron Age and Roman Salt Production in the Thames Estuary, UK
title_full	The Role of Saltmarsh Plants in Iron Age and Roman Salt Production in the Thames Estuary, UK
title_fullStr	The Role of Saltmarsh Plants in Iron Age and Roman Salt Production in the Thames Estuary, UK
title_full_unstemmed	The Role of Saltmarsh Plants in Iron Age and Roman Salt Production in the Thames Estuary, UK
title_sort	role of saltmarsh plants in iron age and roman salt production in the thames estuary, uk
publisher	EXARC
publishDate	2016
url	https://doaj.org/article/40d75c55deea4c379f2f7dc0930feaad
work_keys_str_mv	AT edwardbiddulph theroleofsaltmarshplantsinironageandromansaltproductioninthethamesestuaryuk AT edwardbiddulph roleofsaltmarshplantsinironageandromansaltproductioninthethamesestuaryuk
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The Role of Saltmarsh Plants in Iron Age and Roman Salt Production in the Thames Estuary, UK

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