Between the 23rd of June and the 4th of July, the two French researchers members of the EthnosalRo project, Dr Olivier Weller (CNRS-Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) and Dr Robin Brigand (University of Franche-Comté, post-doc fellow of the French Ethnological Society), continued their field investigations in the areas of the Carpathian piedmont where the salt springs and especially the salt outcrops are currently exploited. They focused on the deposits from the southern part of Vrancea County (the Zăbala and Râmnicu Sărat valleys) and from Buzău County (Sărata-Monteoru). Besides characterizing the deposits from a geographical, archaeological and physical-chemical point of view, the two researchers conducted several several ethnographic surveys among the current and former exploiters of these resources, particularly the shepherds and the baci (“chief shepherds”) from these areas.

 


Text and Photos © O. Weller 2013 (unless stated RB)