Salt production, as one of the important production activities in ancient times, not only met the needs of people's daily life, but also promoted economic development and social progress to a certain extent.
The first step in salt production in ancient times was to collect brine or salt lake water from sources that contained salt. These sources can come from brine wells deep underground, as well as vast salt lakes or seawater.
Ancient people used simple tools such as wooden barrels, bamboo tubes or clay pots to pump this brine to a concentrated location in preparation for the subsequent evaporation of salt production.
In ancient times, the process of collecting brine was a fundamental and critical task. First of all, people need to find water sources that are rich in salt.
In some areas, salt wells are tens of meters deep, requiring ropes and simple buckets to pump underground brine.
These brines are usually rich in salt, as long-term geological processes cause minerals from the ground to gradually dissolve into the water, creating saline water resources.
In other places, ancient people chose to gather water by salt lakes or beaches. The shallow surface of these salt lakes or seawater is full of sunlight, which allows the water to evaporate quickly, leaving behind crystalline salts.
They may use containers such as bamboo tubes or clay pots to pump salt water from the water source to concentrated locations, which are usually salt pans or salt ponds dedicated to drying salt.
Salt water collection is usually done during specific seasons, such as spring and autumn. At this time, the weather is sunny and the sun is abundant, which is conducive to the rapid evaporation of water and the crystallization of salts.
The smooth progress of this step directly affects the efficiency and quality of the subsequent salt production process, so the ancient people attached great importance to the collection and protection of salt water, sometimes even involving sacrifices and religious ceremonies to bless the abundance and purity of salt water.
Evaporation was an indispensable and critical step in the ancient salt production process, which directly determined the quality and yield of the final salt.
Ancient people usually chose to build salt pans or salt ponds in sunny places, which were usually chosen in flat and open areas so that the sun could fully irradiate and heat the water bodies in the salt pans or salt ponds.
In the beginning, they poured brine extracted from underground brine wells or salt lakes into specially designed shallow salt pans or shallow salt ponds.
These salt pans, or salt ponds, are usually shallow potholes that are carefully laid to prevent water loss and improve evaporation efficiency.
Ancient people would use simple tools such as wooden shovels, bamboo tubes or clay pots to transfer salt water from the water source to salt pans or salt ponds, and then wait for the natural sun heat and wind to act.
Over time, the salts in the water gradually concentrate in the process of evaporation. When exposed to sunlight, the water on the surface of the water evaporates, leaving behind crystallized salt grains.
These salt grains are gradually deposited at the bottom of the salt pan or salt pond, forming a salt layer. Ancient people would regularly inspect and maintain salt pans or salt ponds to ensure uniform precipitation of salt and formation of salt layers.
After evaporation, wet salt was obtained in the ancient salt-making process. Wet salt contains a certain amount of water and salt, which needs to be further dried and dried to become the final salt-making product.
Drying is the second critical step in the salt production process. Ancient people took out the moist salt and spread it evenly on the ground of the salt pans or salt ponds, allowing the natural sunlight and wind to continue to work.
This process usually takes place in clear, dry weather to ensure that the salt crystals are fully exposed to sunlight and quickly evaporate moisture from their surface.
In the process of drying salt, the moisture on the surface of the wet salt gradually evaporates, and the salt crystals begin to gradually become dry and firm. The time to dry usually depends on the weather conditions and the moisture content of the salt crystals, and can sometimes take several days or even longer.
Ancient people would regularly inspect and turn the dried salt crystals to ensure that they were evenly dried and to avoid impure or agglomerated salt due to uneven humidity.
As the salt crystals gradually dry, the crystallization of their surface gradually completes, becoming hard and well-grained. At this time, salt crystals have become the final salt product, which can be collected for packaging and sales.
In ancient times, the process of drying salt was not only to remove water from the surface of salt crystals, but also to improve the quality and storage resistance of salt, and ensure that it could be stored and used for a long time.
In the process of drying, the skills and experience of the ancient people played an important role. Through years of practice and observation, they have gradually improved the process of salt production, making the quality of salt products more stable and reliable.
In some areas, salt also needs to go through a refining process after drying to further remove impurities and impurities from it, thereby improving the purity and quality of salt.
Ancient people usually used charcoal fires for the process of heating and melting salt crystals, which was one of the key steps in the salt-making process.
The process of refining salt is generally carried out in specific facilities, which are usually constructed of masonry or terracotta, which have some fire resistance and heat retention.
Ancient people put salt crystals that had been dried into special containers, such as clay pots or iron pots. Then, they lit a charcoal fire and heated the salt crystals to a molten state at high temperatures.
Charcoal fires burn at a high temperature and are able to quickly melt salt crystals into a liquid state. In the liquid state, impurities and impurities in the salt crystals are relatively easy to separate and precipitate.
Ancient people may have helped impurities settle to the bottom of the salt solution by stirring or gently shaking the container, thus further improving the purity of the salt.
Next, they use a filter such as a cloth or fine mesh to filter the melted salt. This step effectively filters out impurities and solid particles that remain in the brine, making the final salt more pure and transparent.
