The west side of Sicily is famous for its salt pans. These areas are large man-made shallows where salt has been produced since the time of the Phoenicians.
Pools of gradually decreasing depth were built to bring in salt water and allow evaporation to occur thus leaving the valuable salt behind. We toured one of the last existing areas to experience a bit of history.
A windmill was used to both turn the Archimedes screw that carried water uphill to the next more shallow pan, and also turned the grind stone allowing for the course salt to be ground down.
Salt was very valuable in ancient times and was sometimes used to pay Roman soldiers. In fact, the word salary is derived from the word salt.
Fascinating! Thanks!