Investigating the human—environment relationship of early intensive salt production: a case study from the Upper Seille Valley, Lorraine, northeast France

This paper presents the latest findings of multi-disciplinary research into the human—environment relationship of intensive Iron Age salt production in the Upper Seille Valley, Lorraine, northeast France. Investigations focus on the early Iron Age workshop “La Digue” (~ 625–500 cal BCE; Hallstatt D1–2), where high-resolution borehole sampling has been coupled with conventional excavation and geophysical surveying to establish direct linkages between intensive occupation and the alluvial environment of this site. Detailed insights into human—river interactions have been identified, enhancing current understanding of the environmental context and impact of this important early industry. The workshop's palaeogeographic setting has been reconstructed and new evidence for briquetage disposal practices has been identified, confirming that a close relationship existed between salt-making and the local hydrological regime. A large volume of briquetage waste (broken clay-fired salt-making equipment, ash and charcoal) was dumped into the river at La Digue, causing rapid and deliberate channel blockage, increasing the distance between the workshop and the river. This probably contributed to a localised increase in channel mobility and/or flooding whilst the workshop was active, producing challenging conditions for salt production. The workshop was abandoned following an intense flood event in ~ 500 cal BCE, coinciding with a major hydrological shift towards wetter floodplain conditions, likely arising from a combination of natural and anthropogenic factors. This study demonstrates the importance of understanding the environmental context of salt production and the roles of water management and briquetage disposal practices, which have been largely overlooked at other intensive salt making sites that employed the “briquetage technique”

Two Essays: Changes in the Implementation Flexibility and Financial Statement Location of Mandated Accounting Standards; and Does the Financial Statement Location of Transition Adjustments Matter to Investors?

Essay 1: In the 20 years since Balsam et al. (1995b) found evidence that mandated accounting standards provide significant implementation flexibility, numerous structural and environmental changes have occurred to the accounting standards setting process. Using a more recent sample of 13 significant mandated accounting promulgations, I reexamine whether implementation flexibility continues to characterize accounting standards. I find that standards continue to avail firms with adoption timing options. However, it appears that the FASB’s previously documented proclivity to direct equity increasing (decreasing) adjustments to the income statement (balance sheet) temporarily abated in the early years of my study, but this behavior was revived in 2006. Essay 2: Transition adjustments arising from the adoption of promulgated accounting standards are recognized in firms’ financial statements. However, the mandated location of these adjustments has shifted throughout the FASB’s history. Early in the FASB’s existence (1973-1988), transition adjustments were often recognized as part of ordinary income. Subsequent periods (1989-2014) saw the introduction of below the line adjustments to income, and, more recently, the advent of adjustments to comprehensive income. In this paper I explore whether the stock market exhibits a differential response to alternative financial statement reporting locations. I find that when firms adopt new accounting standards investors react to the magnitude of the transition adjustments, but there are no discernable valuation effects across alternative reporting locations. This suggests that affording firms with flexibility in the reporting location of transition adjustments might not effectively mitigate standard setters’ political costs

Salt production, distribution and use in the British Iron Age

The study of salt during British prehistory has experienced an awakening during the past 40 years led in large measure by the work of Dr Elaine Morris of Southampton University. The earliest salt production in Britain using an industrial ceramic known as briquetage is now firmly dated to the Middle Bronze Age and its use extends to the early Roman period. While prehistoric salt production in Lincolnshire was addressed in 2001 by Lane and Morris, other regional production areas have not had similar modern syntheses. This thesis will explore the evidence for the production of salt in the coastal regions of Essex, along the south coast and at the Droitwich salt springs in the prehistoric period. The evidence for the distribution of salt from Essex, the south coast and the salt springs of Droitwich and Cheshire will be reviewed based upon discussion of briquetage finds. Morris' Specific Salt Container Index (SSCI) will be utilised to support this analysis. The models for and implications of salt distribution networks will be considered. A more speculative discussion of non-archaeologically visible distribution will also be presented. Four case studies comparing Iron Age sites in salt producing and salt using regions are included to establish the relative presence of salt evidence in the archaeological record and its value, if any, as a social status discriminator. Finally, information is presented on how salt may have been used in the Iron Age. While food preservation is the usage most commonly cited by archaeologists for this mineral, it would have had been used in numerous other ways, including usage in animal diets, medicine and metallurgy. The social and ritual uses of salt will also be discussed. A gazetteer and bibliography of 519 Bronze and Iron Age briquetage find sites is included as a supplemental database. </p

Salt production, distribution and use in the British Iron Age

The study of salt during British prehistory has experienced an awakening during the past 40 years led in large measure by the work of Dr Elaine Morris of Southampton University. The earliest salt production in Britain using an industrial ceramic known as briquetage is now firmly dated to the Middle Bronze Age and its use extends to the early Roman period. While prehistoric salt production in Lincolnshire was addressed in 2001 by Lane and Morris, other regional production areas have not had similar modern syntheses. This thesis will explore the evidence for the production of salt in the coastal regions of Essex, along the south coast and at the Droitwich salt springs in the prehistoric period. The evidence for the distribution of salt from Essex, the south coast and the salt springs of Droitwich and Cheshire will be reviewed based upon discussion of briquetage finds. Morris' Specific Salt Container Index (SSCI) will be utilised to support this analysis. The models for and implications of salt distribution networks will be considered. A more speculative discussion of non-archaeologically visible distribution will also be presented. Four case studies comparing Iron Age sites in salt producing and salt using regions are included to establish the relative presence of salt evidence in the archaeological record and its value, if any, as a social status discriminator. Finally, information is presented on how salt may have been used in the Iron Age. While food preservation is the usage most commonly cited by archaeologists for this mineral, it would have had been used in numerous other ways, including usage in animal diets, medicine and metallurgy. The social and ritual uses of salt will also be discussed. A gazetteer and bibliography of 519 Bronze and Iron Age briquetage find sites is included as a supplemental database. </p