Salt: Did you mean...?

Salt from the Sahara desert was one of the major trade goods of ancient West Africa where very little naturally occurring deposits of the mineral could be found. Transported via camel caravans and by boat along such rivers as the Niger and...

As a young girl interested in archaeology and history, mummies always intrigued me. From the intricate Egyptian mummies to the naturally and beautifully preserved mummies of the Incas, they seemed to me to be beautiful pieces of art containing...

Salt slabs on sale at a market in Timbuktu, Mali. Salt from mines in the Sahara desert has been transported to and traded in West Africa since pre-historical times.

Built in the 16th–18th centuries, the Salzspeicher (salt storehouses) of Lübeck, Germany, stored salt to be shipped to the Baltic region.

Did you know that salt was literally worth its weight in gold in ancient West Africa? This video is all about the lucrative trade of salt in West African history. Salt from the Sahara desert was one of the major trade goods of ancient...

Boats transporting slabs of rock salt on the Niger River delta, Mopti, Mali. The salt comes from ancient mines in the Sahara desert.

A gold salt cellar made by the Italian Renaissance artist Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571). 1540-43 CE. (Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna)

Painting of the giantesses Fenja and Menja grinding salt with the magic grindstone Grótti, a scene from the Old Norse poem "Song of Grótti". Painted by Carl Christian Peters (1822-1899 CE).

In the West African desert, gathering and hauling salt is a grueling task, not left for the meek. Camel caravans still move the tablets to market. See all National Geographic videos: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/?source=4001...

Explore the Mesa Grande Ruins and the Hohokam Civilization and hear about how they thrived in the lands of what is now Arizona. See the massive ruin of adobe walls and platforms as we explore the mound built by the ancient civilization that...