ARTISANAL SALTSCAPES IN EUROPE From mining heritage to living cultural landscapes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5821/identidades.9018Keywords:
salt production, abandonment, recovery, local developmentAbstract
Artisanal salt making in Europe is experiencing an unprecedented expansion, thanks to a stronger awareness of quality food products, the protection of a traditional know-how and the maintenance of the natural values of productive landscapes. Over the last century, small solar evaporation salt making sites across the continent had been experiencing a decline, in favour of large, industrial mining facilities. Hand harvested salt was seen as a low-quality product, not fit for its use in food or other applications. In Spain and Portugal alone, from the over 700 former salt making sites, only 10% survived, the rest falling into oblivion. In the early 21st century, some abandoned sites were gaining attention as mining heritage, being recovered as open-air museums. In a few cases, some sites were recovered in extremis as productive sites, becoming (again) living cultural landscapes. In this contribution, we analyse the recovery of twelve saltscapes in Europe, with different degrees of advancement. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods allows to understand the processes and which factors influence the transformation from an abandoned mining site to a thriving productive landscape that celebrates and protects its cultural, human and natural values.References
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