Cultivating salt: socio-natural assemblages on the saltpans of the Venezuelan islands, seventeenth to nineteenth century

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• dc.contributor.author Antczak, Konrad A.
• dc.date.accessioned 2022-05-25T10:09:06Z
• dc.date.available 2022-05-25T10:09:06Z
• dc.date.issued 2018
• dc.description.abstract This paper discusses the socio-natural assemblages of salt cultivation involving humans, other organisms and natural phenomena on the Venezuelan islands of La Tortuga and Cayo Sal from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. The research is based on archaeological, documentary and oral evidence marshalled to understand the dynamics of past solar sea salt production. In the past, a keen knowledge of the climatic conditions, the tides, and the effects of the microorganisms involved in the concentration of brine and the subsequent crystallisation of sodium chloride (NaCl) was indispensable to augmenting the quantity and quality of a salt harvest. These natural phenomena could be managed through anthropic intervention to the benefit of a saltpan enterprise by investing in infrastructure and tools such as dikes and pumps, thereby modifying the natural environment of a salt lagoon. This research indicates that the Dutch in the seventeenth, the Anglo-Americans in the seventeenth and eighteenth, as well as the Dutch Antilleans and a US American in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, approached the process of obtaining salt on the Venezuelan saltpans differently. This resulted in different configurations of the socio-natural assemblages on the saltpans and a variable final product conditioned by distinct market necessities.
• dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
• dc.identifier.citation Antczak KA. Cultivating salt: socio-natural assemblages on the saltpans of the Venezuelan islands, seventeenth to nineteenth century. Environmental Archaeology. 2018;23(1):56-68. DOI: 10.1080/14614103.2017.1345097
• dc.identifier.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2017.1345097
• dc.identifier.issn 1461-4103
• dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/53258
• dc.language.iso eng
• dc.publisher Taylor & Francis
• dc.relation.ispartof Environmental Archaeology. 2018;23(1):56-68
• dc.rights © This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Environmental Archaeology on 2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14614103.2017.1345097.
• dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
• dc.subject.keyword Saltpans
• dc.subject.keyword Seafarers
• dc.subject.keyword Solar sea salt production
• dc.subject.keyword Socio-natural assemblages
• dc.subject.keyword Venezuelan Caribbean Islands
• dc.title Cultivating salt: socio-natural assemblages on the saltpans of the Venezuelan islands, seventeenth to nineteenth century
• dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
• dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion