#grain storage

Alhóndiga de Granaditas, Guanajuato, 1982.

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

By No machine-readable author provided. BishkekRocks assumed (based on copyright claims). CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=478968

Storage of grains has been important to humans as long as they've been collecting and cultivating them. With grain being dry and able to last for a long time made it almost ideal for storage. Storage facilities that were purpose built for grain go back at least 11,500 years ago, to before the development of pottery in the archaeological record. There are two main types of grain storage, Granaries, which were predominately above ground, and silos, which were predominately below ground with the name coming from the Greek σιρός (sirós) meaning 'pit for holding grain' with tower silos being a more modern construction.

Source: https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2014/01/24/large-grain-storage-revealed-at-catalhoyuk/

While evidence of humans using grains goes back far into our history, much of that was seasonal, or using those things that were in season. About 15,000 years ago, people began living in settlements for much of the year, living off of seasonally available foods, though that they remained in these settlements for much of the year also indicates that people were able to smooth over the seasonal variance of food, reducing the risks of going hungry. These early settlements don't show evidence of food storage even though we've found evidence of food processing, such as sickles and mortars and pestles.

By Offthemapz - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46728398

With the Younger Dryas making the climate cooler and drier around 12,800 years ago, people abandoned these settlements, likely due to the area around them being less bountiful, and don't seem to have built other settlements during this time. At the end of the Younger Dryas, around 11,700 years ago, the climate warmed and became a bit wetter again, allowing people to put energy into more permanent settlements again, these becoming larger than they were prior to the Younger Dryas. The increases in population made storing food much more important.

Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2700141/

At a site now known as Dhra' near the Dead Sea in Jordan, archaeologists found the earliest evidence of plant storage inside houses. By about 11,500 years ago, there were at least two types of storage systems, small bins and larger storage silos. Researchers found 'the remains of at least 4 granaries that are interspersed between ova/circular food processing/residential buildings. All of the granaries were circular structures ≈3 × 3 m on the outside and were built with suspended floors for air circulation and protection from rodents and insects'. They also appeared to have had wattle type supports for the mud roofs with apparent lack of central support suggests that these roofs were flat. These also show signs that they were rebuilt, with granaries were built over previous granaries.

By Sharon Mollerus - originally posted to Flickr as Chest and Lid with Model Granaries, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7146437

The ancient Egyptians were able to store grain for long periods due to their dry climate. As the pharaoh owned all the land, all the grain produced belonged to the pharaoh. Grain was stored in silo pits and then rationed out to people, giving the Egyptians a buffer against drought or 'low Nile' years, when the flooding was lower than expected, resulting in less yield than expected. Pit silos were also used in ancient Greece and through Asia.

By Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China - Eastern Han Pottery Granary, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=101965773

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