Solnitsata

Solnitsata, whose Bulgarian name means the saltworks, was a prehistoric fortified settlement in present day Bulgaria, near the modern town of Provadia. It is regarded as the oldest salt production centre in continental Europe, with activity dated between roughly 5500 and 4200 BC, and it flourished around 4700 to 4200 BC. The settlement was walled to protect the salt, which was a crucial commodity, and it had a citadel, an inner and an outer town, a pottery workshop and the salt making installations themselves. Its population has been estimated at only about 350 people, yet the archaeologist Vassil Nikolov argues that it meets the accepted criteria of a prehistoric proto city. Salt from the site is believed to have supplied the Balkans, and the wealth this trade brought is linked by researchers to the gold of the nearby Varna Necropolis. Some houses may have had two storeys, and the town is believed to have been destroyed by an earthquake.