Salt production and walled town of Provadia-Solnitsata
Producción de sal y ciudad fortificada de Provadia-Solnitsata
- Date
- c. 5400-4200 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Provadia-Solnitsata, Provadia, Varna, Bulgaria
- Credited to
- Chalcolithic communities of Provadia-Solnitsata
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
A centre producing salt by boiling brine in large vessels, surrounded by a stone and timber enclosure. It is interpreted as one of the earliest urban centres in Europe, and its salt would have fuelled Balkan trade.
Excavated since 2005 by Vassil Nikolov. Salt production in Europe is earlier (Poiana Slatinei, Romania, c. 6050 BC); what is distinctive at Provadia is the scale and the walled enclosure. The 'first town in Europe' label comes from the excavators and is not a consensus view.
What it led to
- regional salt trade and wealth accumulation in the Balkan Chalcolithic
- a proposed link with the rich burials of Varna