The organization of salt production in early first millennium CE South Africa Alexander Antonites University of Pretoria, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, Lynnwood Road, Hatfield, Pretoria, South Africa article info Article history: Received 4 March 2016 Revision received 1 August 2016 Keywords: Salt Salt making Production Specialization Early Iron Age Early Farming Communities Mzonjani Baleni Lowveld abstract Salt production is an industry directly associated with the spread and emergence of agricultural commu- nities of southern Africa’s Early Iron Age. It is also one of the few economic activities from the period prior to 650 CE for which direct in situ production evidence exists. Research conducted at the Baleni salt pro- duction site in northeast South Africa focused on activities by communities associated with Mzonjani ceramics (c. 350–650 CE). Analysis of the context, concentration and intensity of production provide an understanding of how these communities accessed resources and mobilized labor. These parameters suggest that production was probably done by multiple small groups on a seasonal basis. Output was likely for own consumption rather than explicitly focused on trade. This research emphasizes the value of approaching resource extraction in non-state societies through distinct organizational principles often reserved for analysis of craft production in complex societies. Ó 2016 Published by Elsevier Inc. 1. Introduction Around 2000 years ago, the first villages of Bantu-speaking communities appear in southern Africa. Over the subsequent c. 900 years – commonly referred to as the Early Iron Age (EIA) – farmers settled throughout the summer rainfall savannah areas of the region (Huffman, 2007). The combination of agriculture, ani- mal husbandry and greater sedentism brought about very different political, economic and social organization compared to that of the authochtenous hunter-gatherers and mobile pastoralists (but see Hall, 1987a). Towards the end of this period, there is clear archae- ological evidence for long-distance trade networks and increased social complexity in some locations. However, there is still a dearth of information on the earliest phases of the EIA – especially for the period prior to 650 CE. Hampered by preservation and small-scale, often short lived settlements, archaeologists are still trying to tease out some of the most fundamental aspects of their social and eco- nomic organization (cf. Mitchell and Whitelaw, 2005, p. 226). One of the few EIA industries for which there are direct in situ evidence is salt production. In this regard, the archaeological investigation of salt making not only presents a unique opportunity to study an EIA industry, but also to better understand the economic organization of southern Africa’s earliest farming communities. I will concentrate on the site known as Baleni (also referred to as Sautini), a salt making source linked to EIA farmers. Previously it had been suggested that salt produced at Baleni and other Low- veld sites could have been used to meet shortages in food supplies through regional exchange networks (Hall, 1987b). This implies a degree of producer specialization since ‘‘some communities were making a living by bartering with other villages” (Hall, 1987b, p. 65). Ethnographic evidence from later periods clearly show that communities could produce salt from a variety of sources including plants and salt rich soils, where available. The unequal distribution of sources meant that salt was widely traded in later periods (e.g. Bent, 1895, p. 309, 311; Burchell, 1824, p. 487; Quin, 1959, p. 236; Stayt, 1968, p. 48). It is therefore significant that historical accounts of precolonial trade in southern Africa specifically men- tion trade routes stopping at sites like Baleni in order to obtain salt for trade with salt-less communities further down the line (e.g. De Vaal, 1984, 1985; Harries, 1978, 1989). These accounts all date to the period after the establishment of Indian Ocean networks into the southern African interior in the second millennium CE. How- ever, there is very little evidence for the extent and impact of long distance trade during the preceding EIA. Therefore, the argument that salt production combatted environmental constraints in the EIA cannot be assumed a priori. Baleni is a brine spring located on the banks of the Klein Letaba River in South Africa’s northern Lowveld region (Fig. 1) – the low lying, sub-tropical flats east of the Drakensberg Mountains in http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2016.08.001 0278-4165/Ó 2016 Published by Elsevier Inc. E-mail address: alexander.antonites@up.ac.za Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 44 (2016) 31–42 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Anthropological Archaeology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaa PROOF ONLY