Salt-producing relics, facilities dating back to Neolithic and Bronze Age found in North Korea: KCNA
![Bronze Age spinning-top-shaped vessels and fragments were discovered at a salt production site dating back about 5,000 years in Onchon County, North Korea, as shown in this photo carried by the Korean Central News Agency on April 9. [YONHAP]](https://image.koreajoongangdaily.com/12558792.webp?imageId=12558792&width=960&height=652&format=jpg)
Remains of salt-producing facilities dating to the Neolithic and Bronze Age have been found in North Korea's southwestern city of Nampho, state media said Thursday.
The remains, used for both storing and processing salt, were found for the first time in Nampho's Onchon County. They date back 5,000 to 5,500 years, in two different layers, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, citing the country's Academy of Science's archaeology unit.
Researchers identified the sites as salt-producing facilities after comparing their salinity with that of the surrounding soil. Based on a piece of earthenware found at the site, they also determined that the remains date back to the Neolithic and Bronze Ages.
North Korea's archaeology society said the relics constitute evidence that areas near the Taedong River basin, centered on Pyongyang, were among the early cradles of civilization.
