Underground silo storage during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages: An approach to the different realities of the Northeast of the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

Food preservation is fundamental to the economy of ancient societies founded on seasonal agriculture. The aim of this paper is to analyse silo storage practices at settlements of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in the Northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. The reality of this type of storage throughout these periods varied from region to region. Furthermore, storage capacity, an aspect essential to this topic, underwent important changes over time. The current analysis specifically identifies, describes and compares silos from each chronological period. The collection of a wide range of data enabled carrying out an analysis of silo variables such as morphology, volumetric capacity, geological substrates and spatial distribution both at the level of settlements and throughout the study area in general. In addition, the wide timeframe allowed carrying out a diachronic assessment.Storage of agricultural products is a key factor in understanding social and economic aspects of ancient communities. Hence this study focuses on the role of storage not only from the perspective of agricultural models, but from those of livestock. The current paper goes even further and explores the existing theories of storage in the framework of social and territorial organisation. The findings offer an important argument bolstering the notion of an increase of the capacity of agricultural productivity in the framework of an expanding land management with construction of the silos taking on shapes differing from those of previous periods. Both characteristics define the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age communities.