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.
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
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.
Sodium is very much an essential nutrient.
If you want a full run-down on Salt, you might check out this book…
Right, sodium is. But salt is just one source of it. See post #15.
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
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?
I had an uncle who had a goiter. It stuck out of his throat about the size of a tangerine.