The human body needs salt to function properly, but surely First Nations of the prairies, people of central Africa or of Central Europe, from the Mongolian steppes and from other landlocked places, couldn’t have access to salt marshes. So where did they get it from?
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Here on the prairies, there are some naturally occuring salt-licks. This whole area used to be a sea bed back 100 million years ago, so there’s also large salt-flats to the north and south of where I live.
Trading routes between indigenous first Nations connected them. There are also known trading routes from my side of the rocky mountains to the Kootenay range, and safe to assume some sort of trading network existed all the way to the ocean. It may not have been reliable, but between food sources (especially when including organ meats and blood) and naturally occuring rock salt, and trading with nearer salt flats, prarie people were able to get enough to live.
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