Why is black pepper and salt the staple seasoning?

by OnDateWithCat

I understand why salt is a staple, it's purely biological. Yay for us for finding ways harvest/mine it. But black pepper? I was just taking for granted that that is what we use, but couldn't it just as easily be something else like ground coriander, a dried herb of some kind, etc? I was wondering if there is an historical reason for why S&P is our go to seasoning. Any ideas reddit?

zhemao