SALT & POWER

EARLY STATES, ROME AND RESOURCE CONTROL

The SALT & POWER project

The Salt and Power project is a four-year project based at the Groningen Institute of Archaeology and funded by the Dutch Research Council (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek).

Start date – 1st of November 2021
End date – 31st of May 2026
Host institution – Groningen Institute of Archaeology
International partner – La Sapienza University (Rome), Tor Vergata University (Rome)

The importance of salt

Salt is indispensable to society, past and present. Human and animal health depend on this resource

Piles_of_Salt_Salar_de_Uyuni_Bolivia_Luca_Galuzzi_2006_a

Problem description and research question

How was the salt produced in the Bronze and Iron ages, and by whom?

Available evidence and research hypotheses

Along the Tyrrhenian coast of Italy, multiple archaeological sites are thought to have been devoted to salt-production with the Briquetage technique (perhaps)

Proposed methodology and hypothesis testing

To test our hypotheses, we will employ geophysical, chemical and archaeological methods to study both the briquetage and saltern production modes in their environmental and geographical context

Meet Our Team

Prof. Peter A. J. AttemaProject supervisor

Professor of Mediterranean Archaeology at the Groningen Institute of Archaeology.

Profile page at GIA

Dr. Luca AlessandriPrincipal Investigator

Expert in protohistory of Latium and salt production in antiquity

Personal website

Prof. Jan SevinkSupervisor

Emeritus Professor of Physical Geography at IBED, University of Amsterdam

Profile page at UVA

Dr. Francesca BulianPost-doc

Expert geologist in micropaleontology and geochemistry

Academia page

Dr. Agostino SotgiaPost-doc

Expert in protohistory of Southern Etruria and agricultural landscape in antiquity

Academia page

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Latest Publications

Early Use of Lime Mortar at the Early Iron Age Piscina Torta Salt Production Site (Tiber Delta, Ostia, Italy)

Early Use of Lime Mortar at the Early Iron Age Piscina Torta Salt Production Site (Tiber Delta, Ostia, Italy)

Bulian, F., J.Sevink, P.Degryse, M.Quilici, L.Alessandri, and P.Attema, 2026, Early Use of Lime Mortar at the Early Iron Age Piscina Torta Salt Production Site (Tiber Delta, Ostia, Italy), Geoarchaeology, 41, DOI 10.1002/gea.70053

Sodium Chronicles… Grain by Grain. New Methods for Quantifying Ancient Salt Demand

Sodium Chronicles… Grain by Grain. New Methods for Quantifying Ancient Salt Demand

Sotgia A., Alessandri L., Attema A., Bulian F., Sevink J., 2026, Sodium Chronicles… Grain by Grain. New Methods for Quantifying Ancient Salt Demand, Archaeological Method and Theory, 33, DOI 10.1007/s10816-026-09771-7

Before Rome: Salt, settlement, and human–environment dynamics at the Early Iron Age site of Piscina Torta (Tyrrhenian coast)

Before Rome: Salt, settlement, and human–environment dynamics at the Early Iron Age site of Piscina Torta (Tyrrhenian coast)

Bulian F., Sevink J., Alessandri L., Maurer A., De Donno G., Baiocchi V., Guarnieri A., 2026, Before Rome: Salt, settlement, and human–environment dynamics at the Early Iron Age site of Piscina Torta (Tyrrhenian coast), Quaternary Science Review, 375, DOI 10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109808

Archaeomagnetic Dating as a Tool to Overcome the Hallstatt Plateau: A Combined Chronological Approach at the Salt Production Site of Piscina Torta (Rome, Italy)

Archaeomagnetic Dating as a Tool to Overcome the Hallstatt Plateau: A Combined Chronological Approach at the Salt Production Site of Piscina Torta (Rome, Italy)

Alessandri L., Di Chiara A., Bonilla-Alba R., Cusimano L., Della Sala G.A., Fiorillo A., Gianni V., Rossi C., Sotgia A., Florindo F., 2026, Archaeomagnetic Dating as a Tool to Overcome the Hallstatt Plateau: A Combined Chronological Approach at the Salt Production Site of Piscina Torta (Rome, Italy), Zenodo, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18789572

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