ZOUT

Long-distance exchange networks existed since prehistory, with salt becoming a key driver from the Iron Age onward. Salt shaped settlement patterns, population dynamics, warfare, and agriculture, especially through coastal–inland interactions. Although salt itself does not preserve archaeologically, briquetage pottery, particularly salt containers, provides crucial evidence for salt production and trade networks in Iron Age and Roman Flanders.

Extensive networks between human communities date back to prehistoric times, as evidenced by metal objects and amber that traveled hundreds of kilometers. Some objects took years to transport and provide evidence of long-distance contact. From the early Iron Age onward, a dynamic between coastal and inland areas also developed in our regions, with salt as the driving force. Salt was an important and valuable resource throughout the centuries. Early settlements, the rise and fall of populations, wars, and the development of agriculture were closely related to the presence of salt (Bloch 1976; Harding 2013). Archaeological research on salt is difficult because salt itself is not preserved. Other proxies, such as salt containers (infra), are therefore necessary for studying salt (Harding 2013). For Flanders, the North Sea coast was likely the most important source of salt, although French and German regions may also have supplied salt. Research into production sites (cf. Dekoninck & De Clercq 2022) is necessary to map the extent of salt mining. The oldest sites along the Channel coast date back to the Early Iron Age, with a significant expansion in the Late Iron Age. Salt mining in the Flemish coastal plain has already been demonstrated several times. A comprehensive and specific pottery category developed for salt mining: briquetage material.1 Moreover, a specific category of briquetage material, so-called salt containers, was also used to transport salt to various markets. This material was found at sites from the Iron Age and Roman periods across Flanders and constitutes a crucial source for research into the reconstruction of (trade) networks.