Journal articles on the topic 'Hittite chronology'

The treaty of a Hittite king, whose name is lost, with Ulmi-Tešub, king of Tarhuntassa (KBo. IV 10 + KUB XL 69 + 1548/u, CTH 106) is a complex and problematic document. Published as a hand-copy by Forrer in 1920, no modern edition of the text has yet appeared in print. It contains an unusually full description of the boundaries of Ulmi-Tešub's vassal kingdom, and in order to provide a sound basis for the reconstruction of Hittite political geography I contributed a translation of the boundary description and of most of the other clauses to John Garstang's book The Geography of the Hittite Empire in 1959. J. Lorenz, a student of Marburg University, prepared an edition in 1986 as a dissertation, but this has remained unpublished. The same is true of a similar edition prepared in 1989 for the University of Amsterdam by T. van den Hout, though this is understood to have gone to press. Dr. van den Hout, however, has published his views on this treaty in some detail in an article “A Chronology of the Tarhuntassa Treaties” in JCS 41 (1989), 100–14, where he introduces the text in his first sentence as “KBo 4 10 (CTH 106), the treaty between Tudhaliya IV and Ulmi-Tešub, king of Tarhuntassa”.

KUB XIX 9, a text dating to the reign of Hattušili III, has long been regarded as an important source of information on the chronology of the reign of Hattušili's grandfather Šuppiluliuma I. The text makes reference to the following events in Šuppiluliuma's career: (1) campaigns in Anatolia, allegedly covering a period of 20 years and devoted to the reconquest of territories lost to Hittite control prior to Šuppiluliuma's accession, (2) a First Syrian War, (3) the appointment of Šuppiluliuma's sons Telipinu and Piyaššili/Šarri-Kušuh as kings in the Lands of Aleppo and Carchemish (respectively), (4) a Second Syrian War, allegedly of 6 years' duration.The information contained in this document, although not entirely free from problems of interpretation, is to a large extent confirmed and amplified in various other documents relating to Šuppiluliuma's reign. The most notable of these is the so-called Deeds of Šuppiluliuma, a biographical account of Šuppiluliuma's achievements composed by his son Muršili II. However, the usefulness of this document, within the context of a study of the chronology of Šuppiluliuma's reign, is limited by a number of factors.

ABSTRACTThe Iron Age chronology at Arslantepe is the result of the interpretation of Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions and archaeological data coming from the site and its surrounding region. A new round of investigations of the Iron Age levels has been conducted at the site over the last 10 years. Preliminary results allowed the combination of the archaeological sequence with the historical events that extended from the collapse of the Late Bronze Age empires to the formation and development of the new Iron Age kingdoms. The integration into this picture of a new set of radiocarbon (14C) dates is aimed at establishing a more solid local chronology. High precision 14C dating by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and its correlation with archaeobotanical analysis and stratigraphic data are presented here with the purpose of improving our knowledge of the site’s history and to build a reliable absolute chronology of the Iron Age. The results show that the earliest level of the sequence dates to ca. the mid-13th century BC, implying that the site started developing a new set of relationships with the Levant already before the breakdown of the Hittite empire, entailing important historical implications for the Syro-Anatolian region at the end of the 2nd millennium BC.

Abstract Egyptian dates are widely used for fixing the chronologies of surrounding countries in the Ancient Near East. But the astronomical basis of Egyptian chronology is shakier than generally assumed. The moon dates of the Middle and New Kingdom are here re-examined with the help of experiences gained from Babylonian astronomical observations. The astronomical basis of the chronology of the New Kingdom is at best ambiguous. The conventional date of Thutmose III’s year 1 in 1479 BC agrees with the raw moon dates, but it has been argued by several Egyptologists that those dates should be amended by one day, and then the unique match is 1504 BC. The widely accepted identification of a moon date in year 52 of Ramesses II, which leads to an accession of Ramesses II in 1279 BC, is by no means certain. In my opinion that accession year remains nothing more than one of several possibilities. If one opts for a shortened Horemhab reign, dating Ramesses II to 1290 BC gives a better compromise chronology. But the most convincing astronomical chronology is a long one: Ramesses II in 1315 BC, Thutmose III in 1504 BC. It is favored by Amarna-Hittite synchronisms and a solar eclipse in the time of Muršili II. The main counter-argument is that this chronology is at least 10–15 years higher than what one calculates from the Assyrian King List and the Kassite synchronisms. For the Middle Kingdom on the other hand, among the disputed dates of Sesostris III and Amenemhet III one combination turns out to be reasonably secure: Sesostris III’s year 1 in 1873/72 BC and Amenemhet III’s 30 years later.

In this article, an edition of an unpublished inscription (MARAŞ 16) on a basalt bull statue of the 8th century BCE from Maraş is presented. Unlike the two rulers by the name of Larama known in Gurgum history, the author of the inscription is a third Larama, son of Hunita. The implications of this new datum for the chronology of the Gurgum dynasty are briefly discussed as well.

Greek mythology mentions Motylos, king in Asia Minor, who received Helen and Paris after they fled the mythical Sparta. Who was Motylos and whether his appearance in ancient Hellenic mythography is in fact perhaps a reminiscence and some “rough” memory of a real ruler of Asia Minor in the XIII century BC. As one of the first candidates for possible reminiscence is Muwatal II. (Muwatalli; Muwatallish) Hittite ruler in the period (according to a short chronology) from 1295 to 1272. BC. The main reason is the existence of a document, found in the Hittite archives in Hatusha, which is called the Alaksandu Treaty (CTH 76). It is a diplomatic treaty (with an approximate date cc 1280 BC) between Muwatal II. and Alaksandu, king of Wilusa. In historiography and archeology it is now unquestionable that Wilusa refers to that city which in ancient Hellenic mythology is called Ilion, while Aleksandu is associated with Paris (Πάρις), whose name by birth was Alexander (Ἀλέξανδρος). It is interesting that in Greek mythology, there is also information that the Paris and Helena fleet was cruising the eastern Mediterranean and that it was carrying out attacks along the coast of the Levant. Perhaps this mythology is actually a memory of the time when the Trojans were part of a military contingent led by Muwatal in the war with the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II, which broke out after the conclusion of the Treaty of Aleksandu.

AbstractIn this article, data appearing in recently published Akkadian letters from the House of ʾUrtēnu (Ugarit) are applied to reach solutions to several Ugaritic onomastic and prosopographic problems. The results allow for clearer etymological evaluation of several personal names and a number of plausible prosopographic identifications, including two that are arguably relevant to Hittite prosopography and chronology. They further contribute to ongoing efforts devoted to exploring the relationship between Ḫatti and Ugarit in the final decades of the Late Bronze Age.This study has been completed during the course of a research fellowship at the Collège de France and has been facilitated by the hospitality of Professor Thomas Römer (Chair, Milieux bibliques, Collège de France) and the library of the Institut du Proche-Orient ancien. The many helpful suggestions from Dennis Pardee, Robert Hawley, Petra Goedegebuure, Theo van den Hout, Ilya Yakubovich, Madadh Richey, and the anonymous reviewers of this article are also gratefully acknowledged here, though I bear sole responsibility for any shortcomings.

The cuneiform Akkadian tablets published here belong to a private collector in England. They were bought from a dealer in 1981. Most of them are closely associated by prosopography, seal impressions and types of text with those excavated at Meskene, ancient Emar on the Euphrates, and published comprehensively by D. Arnaud, in: Recherches au Pays d'Aštata, Emar VI. 1–4 (Paris 1985–7), as well as a few now in private hands and published in various journals.Owing to many problems in fixing the chronology of the Late Bronze Age, exact dates cannot yet be given to these texts, although useful synchronisms have emerged from published Emar material. No. 26 in the main corpus mentions the Kassite king Melisihu, dated c. 1186–1172 B.C. or 1181–1167 B.C. No. 201 in the main corpus mentions Ini-Tešup king of Carchemish son of Šahurunuwas and grandson of Šarri-kušuh (a.k.a. Piyassilis). The latter had been installed in Carchemish by his father Suppiluliumas I and confirmed by his brother the Hittite king Arnuwandas, prior to the time of Emar archives, when the Nuzi records may already have come to an end and Assyria under Assur-uballiṭ I (1365–1330) had begun to assert its power.

Abstract This paper will focus on the individuals attested to in the 15 texts from Azû, with the objective of sketching the inner chronology of the corpus. The published studies on the Ekalte and Emar generations are also used to establish a chronological link between the three Syrian archives. In addition, data from the administrative apparatus of the city (institutions, professions, scribes) will be gathered for the sake of narrowing down the social and cultural contexts of the three Syrian archives from the Middle Euphrates before the Hittites assumed control of the area.

Metal pole-tops of the 7th—4th centuries BC is one of the most wander materials associated with the tribes of the Eastern and Central Europe of the Scythian Age. However, opinions on their function are diverse. Now the pole-tops have a rather general name reflecting the purpose of these objects only approximately. Nevertheless, the study of these artifacts allow us to distinguish three periods: the first (1850—1940s), the second (1950—1980s) and the third (from the 1990s to the present). The first period (1950—1980s) begins with the excavations by I. E. Zabelin of steppe aristocratic barrows. In such barrows as Krasnokutsky, Slonovskaya Bliznitsa, Chertomlyk, a lot of Scythian pole-tops have been discovered. Thanks to localization of the finds in the burials I. E. Zabelin was able to suggest the function of these objects. He believed that the pole-tops could be the decoration of carts, nomadic tents on a chariot. The period is associated with the works of A. S. Lappo-Danilevsky, E. Minns, I. I. Tolstoy and N. P. Kondakov, J. Hampel, P. Reinicke, L. Marton et al. The result was summed up in the research of M. I. Rostovtsev. He supports the idea of a funerary vehicle and connects the origin of the finds with Hittite and Assyrian art, Transcaucasian tombs. In the second period (1950—1980s) there is a noticeable intensity of research on Scythian pole-tops, systematization of artifacts and the use of new approaches to the study. The typology proposed at this time is still used in research now. Almost all finds known at the end of the 70s were systematized in the paper by E. V. Perevodchikova. Different approaches were used in order to interpret the meaning of the pole-tops: as a part of the drawbar of a chariot (V. V. Shleev), shamanic musical instruments (K. Bakai), as the embodiment of the idea of a world tree which marks the ritual space (E. V. Perevodchikova, D. S. Raevsky). V. A. Ilyinskaya considered these artifacts to be multifunctional. The study of the chemical composition of the metal by T. B. Bartseva is important, since it demonstrates the existence of several production centers and sheds light on the origin of the finds. In the third period (from the 1990s to the present) the issue of the functional purpose and origin of the Scythian pole-tops was clarified. The scholars consider them the indicators, marking the arrival of Scythians in North Caucasus and North Pontic region (V. I. Klochko, V. Yu. Murzin, A. Yu. Alekseev, S. A. Skory, D. S. Grechko). T. V. Ryabkova connects the origin of the spherical pole-tops with the eastern territories considering these finds to be purely nomadic. N. L. Chlenova, M. M. Pogrebova, M. Castelluccia, R. Dan lead the line of origin of Scythian pole-tops from the rattles of Iran and Transcaucasia. The study of the technology of making bronze finds and their designs shows that they were cast on a lost wax model or in bivalve molds. In the interpretation of the function of Scythian pole-tops in the period of the 1990s—2010s the researchers depending on the context of discovery correlate these objects from burials with carts (Yu. V. Boltryk) or wooden poles that limited the ritual space for sacrifices (A. R. Kantorovich, V. R. Erlikh). H. Parzinger and S. Hasanov associate their use with shamanism. Thus, the history of the study of Scythian pole-tops made it possible to highlight topical issues. These are the origin and function, improvement of typology using new methods, clarification of chronology, correlation of the distribution of finds with key events in history in Eastern and Central Europe during the Scythian Age.

One of the important directions in the study of military affairs of the Pyanobor culture is the study of weapon sets. A set of weapons means armaments in a specific closed complex. Their study allows us to understand the degree of the population’s armament, its diversity, the demand for certain types of weapons. The problem of the research lies in the fact that such conclusions were made on the basis of an analysis of complexes with weapons from only one burial ground. It was for this reason that the decision was made to analyze the larger-scale necropolis of the Pyanobor culture, in which the number of those buried with items of weapons significantly exceeds those previously studied. This was the Kushulevsky III burial ground. The purpose of this article is to identify and analyze sets of weapons for male burials at the Kushulevsky III burial ground. It is also necessary to compare the data obtained on the weapon sets of the Kushulevsky III burial ground with the necropolises already studied in a similar way: the Okhlebininsky Kara-Abyz culture and the Yuldashevsky Pyanobor culture. It will be fundamentally important to identify the types of arrowheads from the burials of the Kushulevsky III burial ground.An explanatory model for reducing the number of horse bridle sets in military burials of the Pyanobor culture is also presented. In the specialized literature, these theoretical conclusions are described for the first time, which determines the novelty of this work. This work was made possible by the use of statistical calculations, the comparative historical method, as well as the methods of chronology and typology. The use of these techniques made it possible to establish the number of weapons items, their types, types of weapon sets, chronology, etc. The result of the work performed was a demonstration of the proximity of the weapon sets of the Pyanobor and Kara-Abyz cultures. In some cases, certain categories of weapons predominate, for example, bone arrowheads. In bladed weapons, the single-edged combat knife is the most used. In the same category of weapons, there is an electiveness and singularity of swords hitting the drunken population. The combination of a combat knife with a bow or spear forms a standardized complex of weapons of the Pyanobor culture.

The article presents the preliminary results of the interdisciplinary research (geological and geospatial studies, archaeological excavations, salt production experiments, and ethnographic survey) carried out during 2016-2019, in the site and hybrid saltscape of Băile Figa, well known for its remarkable environmental, ancient and current salt exploitation evidence. Besides, the article aims to evaluate the contribution of the recent research to a better understanding of the environmental context of the site and ancient salt production technology in the Inner Carpathian region. Also, it focuses on the hybrid character of the site and its potential to the transdisciplinary and holistic study. Environmental context. The site is rich in environmental, archaeological and ethnographic evidence. It is positioned in the salt-rich area of the Someșul Mare Basin at the northern edge of the Transylvanian Plain (Fig. 1/2; 2/1). The site is part of the landscape that was and is strongly affected by the dynamics of a salt diapir (Fig. 2/2) and deposits of salt mud, brine and halo-biotic factors, as well as by the intense human activity. Excavation. The excavation was carried out in Trench S.XV (16 m x 14 m), located in the central-southern sector of the site. The trench cut through the stream-bed and steep and high banks of the salt stream that crosses the site from south to north (Fig. 4; 5, 10). Its profile sections show four major stratigraphic units: a blackish topsoil, yellow clay mixed with gravel, salty mud, and the rock salt massif. The excavation was conducted in the mud layer, in the central sector of the trench, and in the clay-and-gravel layer found in its lateral sectors. In the area of ca. 60 square meters of the central sector, the excavation has reached the rock salt massif (Fig. 7-11). The excavation in the trench has uncovered rich evidence for Late Bronze Age salt production: seven interconnected features and around one hundred artifacts. The vast majority of the finds have been uncovered in the mud layer. The uncovered features included five timber structures surviving in the salt mud layer, as well as a ditch and a pit dug in the rock salt massif. Feature 1-XV-2013 (Fig. 12; 14/1) is a structure that includes a cone-shaped wattle-lined pit surrounded by a roundish wattle-made fence. The pit cuts through the mud up to the rock salt massif. Its rock salt bottom was sectioned by a ditch, 0.4-0.5 m wide and over 0.9 m deep. It seems that first, by rather extensive digging, the soil and mud were removed down to the salt massif. Then, a ditch, about 5 m long, 0.4 m wide and over 0.9 m deep (see below), was dug in the rock, from east to west. After that, a cone-shaped outer framework made of wattle (D maximal: 1.2 m, D minimal: 0.4 m, H: 1.8 m) was placed over the ditch, narrow end down. After that, the empty space around the framework was filled with mud. Then the pit was surrounded by a roundish wattle fence. A 1.6 m long massive rope made of three twisted threads (Clematis vitalba) has been found in the ditch (Fig. 41). Four samples taken from the wattle framework have produced five dates which fall between 2821±24 and 2778±26 BP. Feature 2-XV-2013 (Fig. 13) was uncovered in the northern part of the trench, on the right side of the stream, between feature 1-XV-2013 (see above) and the north edge of the trench. It was a rectilinear fence, 3.6 m long, built of vertical planks, split troughs, and channelled pieces, pushed into the mud down to the rock salt massif. Three fragments of the troughs from the fence were dendrochronologically dated to the period between 996 and 980 BC. Feature 1-XV-2015 (Fig. 14) was uncovered in the central-southern part of the trench. It was a corridor, 2.5 m long and 1 m wide, oriented E – W, made of two parallel rectilinear alignments of massive upright poles driven into the mud. One of its poles was at the same time part of the fence of the Feature 1-XV-2013. The corridor, on the base of three samples, has been radiocarbon-dated between 2870±32 and 2718±30 BP. Feature 1-XV-2018 (Fig. 15-17) was partially uncovered in the north-west part of the trench, about 3.5 m west of the stream. It is a 5 m long fence, oriented S – N, made of vertical planks, stakes (Fig. 17/2), and a split trough (Fig. 17/1), stuck into the mud, and four horizontal planks linking them to each other (Fig.17/2). Not dated. Feature 2-XV-2018 (Fig. 18; 19/1) was partially uncovered in the western part of the trench, in the rock salt massif. It is a roundish pit (over 2.5 x 1.8 m) with irregular edges, ca. 1.7 m deep below the salt massif surface. Not dated. Feature 3-XV-2018 (Fig. 19; 20) was uncovered in the central part of the trench. It was a ditch dug in the salt massif, 0.4 to 0.8 m wide, over 0.9 m deep, and about 4 m long. It cuts through the bottom of feature 1-XV-2013 (Fig. 12/2) and links it to the feature 2-XV-2018. Not dated. Feature 4-XV-2018 (Fig. 19/1; 20-22) was uncovered in the south-east corner of the trench, covering about 4 x 4 m, and consisted of a cluster of parallel beams laying on the salt massif, and a few vertical poles. The feature continues eastwards and southwards beyond the sides of the trench. On the base of three samples, it was radiocarbon-dated between 2856±31 and 2817±30 BP. Artifacts. We found some 100 artifacts in Trench S.XV during the excavation seasons, between 2016 and 2019. Most of them were made of wood, 1 of hemp (?), and 3 of stone (basalt). The wooden artifacts include 31 component pieces and fragments of trough bodies (Fig. 24-27), 17 channelled pieces (Fig. 28-30), 2 shovels (Fig. 33), 12 paddles (Fig. 31; 32), 4 mallets (Fig. 34/2,3), an L-shaped haft for a socketedaxe (Fig. 34/1), 2 pans (Fig. 35), a bowl (Fig. 36), fragments of 2 ladders (Fig. 37), 3 knife-shaped tools (Fig. 38/2,3), 11 rods with pointed end (Fig. 38/4), 4 loops made of twisted twigs (Fig. 40), a massive rope made of three twisted threads (Clematis vitalba) (Fig. 41), and 5 wedges. One of the artifacts found was made of plant material, possibly hemp: a small twisted cord (it may come from a peg inserted in the trough hole). Stone (basalt) artifacts include 2 mining hammers (mining tools) with engraved grooves aimed to fix the bindings (Fig. 44/1,3), an ovoid-shaped object with many percussion marks at its thicker end (Fig. 44/2). The chronology of the finds. In 2018 4 samples (wattle) from the Feature 1-XV-2013 were dated at Oxford University Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art / Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit. In 2019 some of the timber features (1-XV-2015 and 4-XV-2018) and wooden artifacts (the ladder, the troughs nos. 4 and 5 and some others) were radiocarbon dated by “Horia Hulubei” National Institute for Research and Development in Physics and Nuclear Engineering. Most of the dates fall between 1000 – 900 cal BC. Just one date (a wooden bowl) falls between ca. 1419-1262 cal BC (Tabels 1, 2, 3). The structures and most of the artifacts uncovered in S.XV date to ca. XI-IX centuries cal BC and seem to have been part of a complex production system aimed at brine and rock salt processing. Differential distribution of finds across the site. The research has revealed differential distribution of finds across the site. Thus, the evidence dating to ca. 2300 – 2000 cal BC (a pit dug in the rock massif and pottery), 1600 – 1400 cal BC (a wattle-built structure and wooden troughs), and 400 – 180 cal BC (timber-lined shaft, a wooden ladder and pottery) is mainly concentrated in the southern sector of the site. In exchange, the finds dating to ca. 1400 – 1100 cal BC have mainly been uncovered in the south-central part of the site (timber structures) and northern part of the site (pottery). The evidence dating to about 1050 – 850 cal BC covers two distinct areas: the south-central and northern sectors of the site. While about thirty fragmented troughs have been found in the south-central sector, no one object of this kind has been found in the northern sector. There are also differences concerning the timber structures between these sectors of the site. These strongly suggest that in XI – IX centuries cal BC, at least two different and complementary production areas were active in the site. Salt production experiments. The experiments on salt production, using faithful replicas of Late Bronze Age artifacts uncovered in trenches S.I and S.XV – troughs, channelled pieces, mallets, wedges, stone mining hammers, etc. – aimed to obtain from the different source material – rock salt massif, brine, and mud – various forms of salt: lumps of rock salt, fine salt, and highly concentrated and pure brine. The experiments showed the technical validity of several techniques. The most effective were as follows: 1. Detaching lumps of rock salt from the massif. By means of jets of fresh water directed with the troughs (along the twisted cords fitted in the perforations of the sticks that went through the pegs which were fixed in the holes at the base of the trough) depressions were simultaneously created in the rock salt at ten to twenty spots, 10 to 15 cm apart and 7 to 12 cm deep. This process took few hours (Fig. 45/1). It was noticed that each hole generated one to three cracks in the salt massif, around 1 m long and 5 to 10 cm deep. The holes and cracks allowed the insertion of wooden wedges. By hitting them with heavy wooden mallets, the wedges were pushed down to ca. 20 cm deep. Finally, using hooked sticks, many blocks of rock salt could be detached from the massif. The larger blocks were easily broken by stone hammers (mining tools). 2. Producing small pieces of salt and fine salt from the rock salt massif. The first stages of the process were identical to the previously described. After the holes and cracks were created, the rock salt mass was beaten with stone hammers (mining tools) along the cracks and holes, so that small pieces of salt, as well as wet and soft fine salt, were easily separated from the mass. Thus, about 50 kilograms of fine salt were collected in 30 minutes during the experiment (Fig. 45/2). 3. Boiling brine in the troughs with hot stones and drawing off the brine. Stones heated as much as possible in a fire were immersed in the brine with which the trough was filled, thus bringing it to the boil (Fig. 46). The boiling continued until the salt begun to crystallize. After that, the trough, full of highly concentrated brine, was left motionless for several hours. The insoluble impurities of the brine sedimented according to their specific weight: the lightest of them floated to the top, while the heaviest (metals and minerals) settled on the bottom. Above the sediment lying on the bottom of the trough and under that at the top remained a rather thick layer of fairly clean brine. During the experiments, the lower sediment has never reached 3 cm in thickness. The wider tops of the plugs that were inserted into the holes found at the bottom of the trough, were at least 3 cm high. Because of this, the upper edges of the plugs remained above the sediment on the bottom of the trough. We then slightly raised the long sticks that were tightly inserted into the axial holes of the plugs, which in turn tightly closed the holes in the trough’s bottom. The sticks were fixed and maintained in a slightly raised position by a kind of pliers – half split twigs – set transversely over the trough opening. In this way, the brine was allowed to drain easily into channelled pieces set under the trough. The brine then flowed through the channelled pieces to the next trough(s). The process could be repeated in the next trough(s) until the salt makers would get a fairly clean and highly concentrated brine. Ethnographic survey. Băile Figa and its surroundings are places where the evidence for ethnographic research, of what is commonly called ‘the traditional salt civilization’, can still be found. In every ancient salt production archaeological site known in Romania, without any exception, the current folk salt exploitation is still in progress. The latter offers to these sites a valuable research potential, almost unique in Europe, for the ethnoarchaeological research. The ethnographic survey has attested a number of aspects of the present-day folk ways of exploiting brine, rock salt, salt mud, and halophytic vegetation, as well as other traditional practices and customs related to these resources. Brine folk exploitation. The most exploited saline occurrence at Băile Figa is currently brine. Brine is taken directly from the numerous springs filling the central salty stream valley (Fig. 48/1). Then, it is loaded into plastic drums of 50 to 200 litres and transported by carts to the neighbouring villages (Fig. 48/2). The locals told us that, in the past, the brine was transported in large, cone-shaped barrels, called “bote mari”, of 60 litres, made of softwood boards connected to each other with circles of hazel twigs (Fig. 49/5), in smaller containers, of approx. 20 litres, called “barbânțe” (Fig. 49/3), as well as in smaller containers hollowed out of tree trunks and called “bote” (Fig. 49/2). The most remote localities, to which the brine from Băile Figa is transported, are situated at a distance of 11 km. But most people that currently get brine from Băile Figa live within a maximum perimeter of 6 km. Brine is mainly used for preserving meat, bacon (especially around the winter holidays), and vegetables. Sometimes the brine is used for health care purposes, mainly against colds, rheumatic pains, skin diseases or circulatory deficiencies, either on the spot or at home. In the 1960s and 1970s, the locals built two brine ponds and used them for health cure baths. Rock salt folk exploitation. According to some elderly locals, until 1989, the rock salt was periodically extracted at Băile Figa, by manual or mechanized digging of vertical pits. It was mainly used to supplement the feed of domestic animals in the individual households, sheepfolds (Fig. 50) and collective farms or state agricultural enterprises. Sometimes, the locals crushed and grinded salt lumps. In some households in the village of Figa, we have identified and documented some primitive millstones used in salt grinding (Fig. 49/1). Ground salt is added to animal feed and very rarely in human food, people being sure that this kind of salt can harm their health. Sapropelic mud folk exploitation. The ethnographic surveys have documented the traditional exploitation of sapropelic mud at Băile Figa. It is found only in some limited spots of the salt stream valley. The spots with small deposits of sapropelic mud are known only by “connoisseurs” who, among the clues, are guided by a specific smell. The sapropelic mud is used for health care purposes, especially for the treatment of rheumatic diseases. The mud is applied, either on most of the body or only on the parts affected by pain. Sometimes, the mud is applied to animal wounds, for disinfection and drying. Mud-based treatments are done both on-site and at home. Shepherding. Until the building, during 2007 – 2011, of the leisure resort, Băile Figa was the favourite place for grazing for the local domestic animals (sheep, cows, buffaloes, and horses). The animals, according to the information delivered by the shepherds, loved salt grass and brine (Fig. 49/2). Shepherds tried to prevent the animals from drinking brine from the springs because their fondness of the salty taste made them to drink it in unhealthy quantities, so that they could “swell” and die. Beekeeping. In the northern sector of the salt stream valley, at the surface of the soil, in the summer of 2018, a primitive beehive made of a hollowed-out oak trunk was discovered (Fig. 48/4). So far, as we can know, it is a unique find of this sort in a saline context.