5,800-Year-Old Surprising Archaeological Find In UK

[Peter1469]

Cool find- a salt mine that was in use between 3800-3700 BC.


5,800-Year-Old Surprising Archaeological Find In UK

The earliest evidence of salt mining in early Neolithic Europe was found in Neolithic settlements in the Balkans (first half of the 6th millennium BC), in Catalonia (late 5th – early 4th millennium BC), and in the west of France (late 4th – early 3rd millennium BC) era).


The earliest British finds related to salt production came from Somerset and date back to the Late Bronze Age (circa 1400 BC). Scientists have not yet discovered earlier salt pans, despite the abundance of archaeological sites from the Neolithic era in Britain.


One of the sites where the remains of Neolithic settlements were found, the Street House site, is located near the seaside town of Loftus in North Yorkshire. In the 1980s, archaeologists first unearthed an early Neolithic stone tomb here, and then a late Neolithic ritual structure with a palisade.

In addition, traces of a developed settlement of the Iron Age with traces of saltworks, which continued to work in Roman times, and an Anglo-Saxon cemetery of the middle of the 7th century were found in Street House. In 2011, a geophysical survey revealed another complex of monuments at Street House, dating back to the Neolithic era and consisting of several stratigraphic horizons.