# How did pre-civilization people away from the sea get salt/iodine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2014, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pre-civilization-people-away-from-the-sea-get-salt-iodine/699300 "2014-09-23T03:15:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pre-civilization-people-away-from-the-sea-get-salt-iodine/699300/21 "2014-09-23T22:40:41Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Well, none of those things could have been traded before agriculture (except cedar and possibly chert since I don’t know what it is) since they are products of intensive agriculture. Chert is a type of rock like flint that is used to make stone tools. Fish oil wasn’t derived from fish farming, it was harvested from wild fish. Cedar trees weren’t cultivated. Tobacco does grow wild in places, but it is true that most tobacco trade would have been cultivated tobacco. But tobacco doesn’t require “intensive” agriculture. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pre-civilization-people-away-from-the-sea-get-salt-iodine/699300/22 "2014-09-24T00:28:19Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Not enough iodine, get goiters. The great lakes and Appalachian areas in the US used to be called the goiter belt because the soil is naturally iodine deficient. Source: (Aside from growing up there) [History of U.S. Iodine Fortification and Supplementation - PMC](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3509517/) ---
**Author:** ![slowlearner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@slowlearner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slowlearner)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pre-civilization-people-away-from-the-sea-get-salt-iodine/699300/23 "2014-09-24T00:37:18Z")
Salt is not an essential nutrient but it is essential in pre-tech societies for preserving food. And Appalachians have suffered so much over the generations it seems a shame that pun was also inflicted on them. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pre-civilization-people-away-from-the-sea-get-salt-iodine/699300/24 "2014-09-24T01:59:51Z")
> [@slowlearner](#): > > Salt is not an essential nutrient but it is essential in pre-tech societies for preserving food. Sodium is very much an essential nutrient. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pre-civilization-people-away-from-the-sea-get-salt-iodine/699300/25 "2014-09-24T02:26:33Z")
If you want a full run-down on Salt, you might check out this [book](http://www.amazon.com/Salt-World-History-Mark-Kurlansky/dp/0142001619/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411525527&sr=1-1&keywords=salt)… ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pre-civilization-people-away-from-the-sea-get-salt-iodine/699300/26 "2014-09-24T04:43:25Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Sodium is very much an essential nutrient. Right, sodium is. But salt is just one source of it. See post #15. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pre-civilization-people-away-from-the-sea-get-salt-iodine/699300/27 "2014-09-24T06:58:41Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Indeed. Stone tools have been found very long away from the extraction sites. > > And it makes complete sense. Those people weren’t different from us, and trading doesn’t require any technology, Sid Meier’s Civilization notwithstanding. Yes. This Jade stone ax from 2000-4000BC was found in Britain, at a time long before the Roman empire. Jade does not exist in Britain: it was originally mined in Italy and arrived in Britain via trade presumably. [BBC - A History of the World - Object : Jade axe](http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/ZRfYPmVMSgmqZyFEY8VRJA) ---
**Author:** ![katesisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@katesisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/katesisco)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pre-civilization-people-away-from-the-sea-get-salt-iodine/699300/29 "2017-05-19T19:25:40Z")
I have this idea that we downplay the need for iodine as it is not a part of farming. Trade via water seems to have been the first civilization. If that is true then we got our iodine by seafood. I read on physdotorg that Cambodia is now experiencing its first generation of births without iodized salt and there is significant retardation. The article said Japan produces 1/3 of world iodine and to put such an essential nutrient out of reach except thru trade is insane. Why wouldn’t each country want to control its own iodine production? ---
**Author:** ![race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/race_to_the_bottom)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pre-civilization-people-away-from-the-sea-get-salt-iodine/699300/30 "2017-05-20T02:03:29Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Not enough iodine, get goiters. I had an uncle who had a goiter. It stuck out of his throat about the size of a tangerine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-pre-civilization-people-away-from-the-sea-get-salt-iodine/699300.md?page=1)