Many items from the Neolithic were found in Tuzla, among which dishes for production of salt from salt water take a special place. These archeological items confirm that sources of salt were exploited by people during the Neolithic. The oldest European cultures which used salt date back to the Copper Age, which means that the Neolithic archeological findings from Tuzla move the boundaries of knowledge about and usage of salt in human nutrition from the Eneolithic to the Neolithic. It has to be underlined that the Neolithic settlement was found in the center of contemporary Tuzla, which is a unique case and a proof that the settlement was the beginning of continuous living in the area of the contemporary city through all historical periods, from the Neolithic until today.
One of the primary objectives of annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was exploitation of natural resources, among which the salt from Tuzla took a special place. The first saline, constructed in the suburban area of Tuzla, Simin Han, in 1885 represented the beginning of industrial production of salt in Tuzla. Soon afterwards there was the beginning of subsidence as a consequence of uncontrolled extraction of salt water from salt rocks deposits, on which the city is located. The subsidence was on its peak in the 1970s when the city lost several thousand of housing, cultural and economic buildings. The salt is the destiny which constructed and destroyed Tuzla and determined its cultural uniqueness.