Fish drying and salting in Pharaonic Egypt
Secado y salazón de pescado en el Egipto faraónico
- Date
- c. 2400 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Saqqara, Giza, Egypt
- Credited to
- Fishermen and food preservers of Old Kingdom Egypt
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
Old Kingdom mastabas show fishermen gutting, cleaning and hanging fish to dry in the sun, and texts mention salted and cured fish. Preserving the Nile catch made it possible to supply cities and royal works out of season.
The date rests on tomb scenes (for example Saqqara mastabas) rather than on preserved fish remains; the exact salting methods are poorly known.
What it led to
- fish as cheap protein for workers and temples
- trade in dried and salted fish along the Nile
- Egyptian fish-preserving traditions, such as feseekh and cured roe, of uncertain origin
Built on
- Salt production (brine boiling) and saltingc. 6050 BCE
- Smoking and drying of food