Humans developed farming and fish storage technologies, which led to settlement and civilization. This process allowed humans to move beyond survival to dominate the planet, marking a major turning point in human history.
Today, humans, an animal that is neither large nor strong, dominate the planet. We have adapted to our harsh surroundings by using our intellect to outwit other creatures. Along the way, humans gradually experienced a number of revolutionary changes, including the creation of tools, the use of fire, and the development of language. One of the most groundbreaking of these changes was the beginning of agriculture. Farming fundamentally changed the way humans lived and is considered a major turning point in human history.
Our distant ancestors traveled from place to place to satisfy their hunger. The transition from hunter-gatherers to settlers was marked by the acquisition of a new skill: farming, which British archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe called the Neolithic Revolution. This revolution had a profound impact on the development of social structure and culture, not just on how people obtained food.
However, the plants cultivated in the early days of agriculture could not provide protein, one of the most essential nutrients for human survival, so humans continued to hunt, and even with the tools available to them, catching animals was a risky endeavor. Not only that, but even if they succeeded, the meat spoiled quickly, so humans had to constantly risk their lives in search of game. In this sense, the quest for food security was a key issue for human survival, and it had a profound impact on human history and culture.
Humans living this way would have craved meat more than anything else, as it could be caught without much risk and could be stored for a long time. One of their other sources of protein, fish, had the advantage of being easy to catch in large quantities with simple tools, but it also had the problem of spoiling faster than meat at room temperature, so it had the potential to be a great food resource if we could figure out how to store it.
Over the years, humans eventually figured out how to delay the spoilage of fish. In the process, humans developed ways to store fish not just for survival, but also for economic gain. The documentary Super Fish, which aired on South Korea’s KBS, tells the story of how people stored fish in the past. Initially, drying and smoking were the main methods used. What they have in common is that they remove moisture from the meat, and drying involves trimming the fish in the necessary areas and letting it dry in the sun and wind for a period of time. Alaska’s indigenous people used this method to catch salmon as they returned to spawn during the short summer months, and dried them to survive the long winter. Smoking fish, on the other hand, uses smoke to rapidly remove moisture from the fish. The process greatly reduces its volume, making it easier to store and transport, and removes fishy odors. This method is still used today near the Niger River in Africa.
Another method of storing fish that came a little later, but has had an enormous impact on humanity’s food resources, is salting. This method of salting prevents spoilage and allows for a much longer storage period than drying or smoking, and it also improves flavor. It was only with the advent of salting that humans were able to access fish in large quantities, which not only solved a survival problem but also revolutionized societies and economies. Examples of this can be found in ancient Egypt, the Mediterranean, Cambodia, and elsewhere.
Let’s look at Egypt first. Ancient Egypt, which blossomed early as one of the world’s four major civilizations on the banks of the Nile River, is thought to be the earliest to discover that salt prevents spoilage. Salting fish can be found in Egyptian murals that are thought to have been painted over 5,000 years ago. Because salted fish can be stored for a long time, the Egyptians of the time caught huge amounts of fish, some of which fed the vast population and the leftovers became important trade goods. This would have brought great wealth to Egypt. In this sense, the art of salting contributed greatly to the maintenance of the ancient Egyptian empire.
Not only Egypt, but the Roman and Khmer empires also benefited from salting. The Roman Empire in the Mediterranean 3,000 years ago was able to sustain a large number of people by salting tuna, and the Khmer Empire in Cambodia was able to sustain a large number of people by salting riel, a small fish. They also accumulated wealth by trading in salty fish, which they used to build a spectacular empire. And to this day, salting fish is an important way of life for people living in this region.
Before watching this program, I thought of salt as simply a mineral that is essential for human survival. However, I realized that its use in the art of salting has had a much larger impact than I thought. What it provided humans was not just a way to preserve food, but a revolutionary technology that enabled economic wealth and the creation of empires. Interestingly, different regions of the world practiced different methods of salting, which were influenced by climatic conditions. On the Mediterranean coast, where there is plenty of sunshine and good winds, a lot of salt is produced. So the fish is covered with salt and pressed down with some weight to keep it down. There’s no need to worry about running out of salt in these areas, so in the case of tuna, every part of the fish is salted. This can be seen in Baelo Claudia, in southern Spain, which is home to the remains of a Roman salting site. Here, there are several large pits. It”s believed that the salted fish were piled up before being loaded onto trading ships, which would have required an enormous amount of salt to be used continuously.
On the other hand, salt is not produced in abundance in the colder, less sunny regions of northern Europe, so in the pre-transportation era, salt was expensive, and people living in these regions were forced to half-salt their fish. They tried to prevent spoilage by adding half the salt. The result was, quite frankly, half-rotten fish. However, they took advantage of this and created a unique salting method. They put the fish in a vat of brine and let it ferment. This is how Swedish herring, known as the world’s stinkiest herring dish, was born. While many of us today would cringe at the thought of eating it, the smell would have been a thankless task for those living in northern Europe in the past, as it allowed them to survive.
Today, of course, refrigeration and other storage methods have been developed, making drying, smoking, and salting less important than they were in the past. However, these techniques paved the way for today’s refrigeration technology and have had a major impact on modern food storage and distribution systems. They have also enabled a steady supply of food throughout human development and have been fundamental to cultural and economic progress. Nevertheless, traditional methods such as salting, drying, and smoking still play an important role in our food culture.
The discovery of these techniques transformed fish from a transient food to a food resource that could be left behind, and its influence was so great that it created empires. If humans hadn’t figured out how to keep fish from spoiling, we might still be packing our weapons and risking our lives to hunt them down today. This method of preserving fish played an important role in changing the way humans lived, and it was this change that fueled our civilization. If farming was the beginning of the Neolithic Revolution, then fish storage was the completion of it.
