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5,500-year-old salt production site unearthed in North Korea, rewriting ancient civilisation narrative

By The South Asia Times

PYONGYANG – Archaeologists have discovered Bronze Age and Neolithic salt production facilities in Nampo City, North Korea, dating back 5,000 to 5,500 years – the oldest ever found in the country, state media announced Thursday.

A research team from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, working alongside North Korean archaeologists, uncovered the site in the Won-eup Workers' District of Oncheon County, according to state-run news agency KCNA.

The excavation revealed a brine storage facility and a salt roasting facility, both unprecedented discoveries in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The brine storage facility, shaped like a hemisphere to optimize saltwater preservation, contains two distinct cultural layers. The upper layer yielded a hardened mud floor and fragments of Bronze Age pottery, while the lower layer produced clay mixed with wood ash and Neolithic vessel fragments with carved patterns.

The salt roasting facility similarly features two cultural floors – an upper layer with a furnace containing a flue for concentrating saltwater, and a lower layer with a simpler furnace and engraved Neolithic pottery fragments.

Soil analysis confirmed the site's purpose: salinity levels in the storage facility were significantly higher than surrounding soil, proving ancient salt production.

The Archaeological Society of the DPRK verified that the upper layer represents Bronze Age salt production from 5,000 years ago, while the lower layer dates to the Neolithic Age, 5,500 years ago.

Officials declared the site a national treasure, stating it provides "clear evidence proving that the Taedong River basin, centered on Pyongyang, is one of the cradles of human civilization."