Introduction to Bacon & the Art of Living
The story of bacon is set in the late 1800s and early 1900s when most of the important developments in bacon took place. The plotline takes place in the 2000s with each character referring to a real person and actual events. The theme is a kind of “steampunk” where modern mannerisms, speech, clothes and practices are superimposed on a historical setting. Modern people interact with old historical figures with all the historical and cultural bias that goes with this.
narrative – the history of bacon
** Chapter Under Construction **
Salt: The Austrian Priority
April 1985
Dear Children,
Throughout my search for the origins of our tradition of curing meat, I imagined that it to be like the search for the spring that give birth to the River Nile.
A spring that feeds into Lake Victoria, which is considered the source of the White Nile, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile River. Among these, the most notable spring is the Ripon Falls, near Jinja, Uganda, which was considered the source of the Nile for some time. When explorers looked deeper, they realised that the Nile’s true source extends into the Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda, where the Rukarara River, a tributary of the Kagera River, begins. The Kagera River flows into Lake Victoria, connecting with the White Nile.
This was, however, not the full story. Another major spring associated with the Nile’s origins is the Speke’s source at the headwaters of the Kagera River. This spring is located in the Burundi Highlands, where the Ruvyironza and Rurubu rivers originate. These rivers flow into the Kagera River, which, in turn, flows into Lake Victoria.
Lake Victoria is recognized as the source of the White Nile but the the network of tributaries and springs feeding into it, including those in the Burundi Highlands and the Nyungwe Forest, collectively constitute the most distant sources of the Nile River. These springs in the mountains are credited with being among the origins of the Nile, contributing to its flow and the vast ecosystem it supports along its journey northward through Africa.
There are parallels to my search for the earliest glimpses of meat curing. The deeper I look, the more people, places, families, scientific discoveries and geological formations I discover who collectively contributed to the art of curing.
The earliest foothold I found in my search for the most ancient origin of curing was the Turpn depression in the far western regions of modern-day China. (Chapter 12.06.1: From Sea to Deserts -> Sal Ammoniac Predating Saltpetre). In the Turpan depression sal ammoniac and saltpeter occur side by side. Sal Ammoniac emerged as the most traded salt from the region which is in line with my discovery that it was the curing salt of choice in antiquity.
I have always known that central to the story of bacon is the land in the heart of Europe. Flanked by the majestic Alps to the south, which gracefully descend into the rolling hills and fertile plains of the Danube and Elbe river basins. The Alps, creating a natural fortress and a source of awe-inspiring vistas, transition into the Bohemian Massif, an ancient geological formation that cradles the modern-day Czech Republic in its midst. To the northeast of what is unmistakably the heart of the story of bacon, the terrain rises into the Sudetes and the Carpathian Mountains, guarding the southern borders of modern-day Poland. Between these mountainous bookends lies a patchwork of forests, rivers, and valleys that have nurtured civilizations for millennia. A blend of towering peaks, expansive forests, and meandering rivers landscape in which the story of bacon and the science of meat curing was shaped!
Salt has been mined continuously in the Hallstatt area for 7,000 years, and on an industrial scale 4,000 years ago. Inscriptions, markings or symbols up to 2,800 years old have also been found on iron tools from Hallstatt from the early Iron Age, which indicate a continuity of symbols from the Urnfield culture of the Bronze Age and are probably related to mining and the metal trade; These were, among other things, inscriptions from the Hallstatt cemetery engraved on situlas or cauldrons. They have been interpreted as numbers, letters and words.
But salt wasn’t the only thing the people of Hallstatt produced in the Bronze Age. Several wooden log buildings that were thought to be residential buildings when they were discovered in the 19th century are now generally interpreted as facilities for curing meat. The size of the facilities made it possible to process such large quantities that it seems justified to speak of a Bronze Age meat industry. Between 150 and 200 pigs could be cured with salt in a tank at the same time. Through radiocarbon analyzes of the wood used, the chronology can be dated to the 13th and 12th centuries BC. secured. The examination of the animal bones found during modern excavations showed that pork was primarily used in the salting tubs. Bones from sheep, goats and cattle were also found. In the mass of recovered bones, which all come from animals of a narrow age group, certain body parts are usually missing. Therefore, modern research assumes that only specific parts of the animals slaughtered elsewhere were delivered to the Salzbergtal. Due to their composition, the finds indicate mass processing of meat in the Salzbergtal, which significantly exceeded the assumed needs of the settlement(s) in Hallstatt itself and was therefore probably also used for export. Experimental archeology has shown that the climate inside the tunnels is ideal for aging raw ham. Therefore, the pieces of meat were probably brought into the tunnels after curing.
Hallstatt can therefore be viewed as a prehistoric large-scale company. Pigs were an important aspect of this, as tons of bacon were produced in Hallstatt every year – there is nothing comparable in this dimension known in Europe. Apparently the pigs were driven along the Danube to Hallstatt. Given the fact that there was not enough fodder in the region in winter to feed such a large number of animals, the question arose about the origin of the pigs. A study of mitochondrial DNA from pig teeth found in Hallstatt on samples from ten animals from the period between the 12th and 13th century BC. BC provides clues to the origin of pigs. Initial DNA analyzes indicated that the animals came from breeders in the foothills of the Alps along the Danube or from the Judenburg and Klagenfurt basins and were driven to Hallstatt every year. Further morphological differences indicate the pigs’ areas of origin to the north along the Traun and to the southeast towards the Styrian Salzkammergut. Their meat was cured in huge wooden tanks and dried in the mine. These were mainly castrated males. The Hallstatt pigs came from large herds or various farms. Hallstatt apparently had several pig suppliers and not one large breeder who supplied the large farm alone. The analysis of the mitochondrial DNA also showed that the animals belonged almost exclusively to the European genetic line (haplotype) and not to the Asian one. Regarding the distribution of prehistoric samples in the network, there are two common haplotypes harbored by both prehistoric and modern pigs: H288-7 was identical to a wild boar specimen from Norway to H45-1 and H405-5 shared the same haplotype with a British Duroc and the French Wild Boar-1. This could suggest that pigs were also domesticated in Europe. The European domestic pigs were (almost) identical to the European wild pigs. It was only centuries later that the different lines partially mixed.
Related to this: Archaeological research by ANISA, the Association for Alpine Research rock art and settlement in the Alps – Austria, provides evidence of Bronze Age alpine farming in the Dachstein Mountains (Austria) from 1,700 BC, which continues to this day.
If you are interested or the Alps interest you, you might be able to find what you are looking for in my blog in the Land der Almen series: https://www.der-steirische-bedarf.at/post/land-der-almen-i (it is a series consisting of 10 parts).
I would like to address trade relations and current research on Hallstatt materials next time. only that much: There were extensive trade relationships here from the
late Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age between Central Europe (Alps) and Scandinavia, as a study on the metal analysis of over 550 bronze objects shows. The Carpathians, England, northern Italy and Sardinia were also integrated into this metal trading network. Then why not even China?
Your Dad.
(c) eben van tonder
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