Salt evaporation pods in antiquity?

It seems that every large civilization cannot get enough salt - it was a valuable resource up until the modern age. but today, salt production is very simple and effective thanks to - in part - the evaporation pod, which removes the necessity to mine the salt. my question is this - why did this things not exist in the past (and if they did, what really changed)? what if a Mediterranean civilization like Rome or Greece invents this? could they counter the power of eastern spices with western salts?
 
Well, AFAIK, most of the salt produced in independent Gaul IOTL (and the Celtic areas generally) came from salt marshes , brine and briquetage, producing salt out of it.
Salt mines, at least for this part of Europe, strikes me more as a medieval thing, at least for Europe.
I'm less confident about other Europeans and Mediterranean areas, but IIRC it was the same for Italic and Hispanic salt.
 
Do you mean "evaporation poNds"?? "evaporation pods" turns up no relevant results on google for me.
 
It was difficult to evaporate enough salt in outdoor ponds in areas where it rained frequently. In addition, salt mines were dangerous due to dehydration caused by constant contact with and consumption of salt. Because of these things, although salt production methods were known from ancient times across much of the world, the demand for salt (the only viable food preservation method in many places and times) far exceeded supply.
 
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