#storage pit

Archaeologists think that many of the features found at archaeological sites were originally dug to serve as storage pits for agricultural crops (corn, beans, squash – all of which can often be recovered during flotation in light fraction samples). The structure of the pit may well have been similar to that described by an Hidatsa woman, Buffalo Bird Woman to anthropologist Gilbert Wilson, who published Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden in 1917  (https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/buffalo/garden/garden.html). The pit was lined with grasses or bark to keep the crops from becoming moldy from contact with the soil. The outer layer consisted of chains of corncobs, with shelled corn inside, as well as slices of dried squash.  A drawing of Buffalo Bird Woman’s storage pit can be seen at: https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/buffalo/garden/garden.html#VII. Archaeologists rarely find intact storage features as they were reused as refuse pits but we do sometimes find remnants of the pit lining, including bark at the base, or grasses on the margin of the pit.  Left - the storage/refuse pit pictured is from an Oneota site in La Crosse County. Right - an image of thatch, presumed to be from the pit lining, still adhering to corn kernels that were burned in a storage pit.

Site of Iron Age Roundhouse and Grain Storage Pits, Danebury Iron Age Hillfort, Hampshire

Many pits were initially dug to store food or other items. Once the food was removed, the pit was filled with garbage and washed-in soil. The site was eventually abandoned, and the village debris in the ground was slowly buried by shifting sands. Plants grew over the top, hiding and protecting the site. The organic garbage decayed over time, staining the pit fill dark brown or black. The village became an archaeological site. Pictured is a pit, already excavated by archaeologists, that began to refill with washed-in soil after just one heavy rain.