Nin Salt Works

Aenona

SalinaDalmatia · Nin, Zadar County, CroatiaBuilt 100 BCE

About

This small tidal-island town joined the empire in 9 CE after Rome crushed the Great Illyrian Revolt, gaining causeway bridges and a road to nearby Iader. Shallow lagoons around Aenona made it one of many eastern Adriatic towns whose villas and townsfolk worked their own saltpans, a pattern archaeologists have traced up and down this coast. Rising seas have swallowed much of the ancient evidence, but Nin's saltpans still work the same ground today.

What happened here

Shallow pans are cut into the flats behind a beach or a lagoon and filled at high tide through a gate. The water is walked through a sequence of pans, each shallower and saltier than the last, and the sun does the rest over the summer. In late season the crust is raked into ridges, left to drain, then carried off in baskets. The work is hot, glaring and hard on the feet, and it is done by contracted labour on a short season. Salt preserves fish and meat, cures hides and pays part of the state's revenue, so the pans are regulated and often leased from the state. A salina needs sun, wind and a tide, and it shuts down entirely when it rains.