Did they just find salt on the ground and lick it? Did they drink animal blood? Did they drink ocean water (I hope not)?
I’ve always wondered this since I was a little kid.
In: Other
Depends where they were located. Those located near the sea obviously had access. For some areas there are natural salt deposits. In other cases salt came from the food they ate, a lot of roots, and as you mentioned animal products contain salt. But before salt was readily available, it just wasn’t used as much. Modern people use a huge amount of excess salt. It tastes really good, and because our bodies evolved in a time when it was relatively scarce, we have been programmed to seek it out, but we don’t need nearly as much as we actually eat. Trading insult probably also developed very early in Hunter gather societies. Those that lived near salt deposits or near the sea would harvest it and trade it inland.
There has probably also been some modern evolutionary changes to the way our bodies handle salt. There is some evidence that populations that evolved in hot climates with limited access to salt retain salt better than other populations, though this is far from proven science at this point.
For more information than you ever wanted to know about salt I highly recommend the book “Salt” by Mark Kurlansky.
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