Understanding Pit Sites: Storage, Surplus and Social Complexity in Prehistoric Western Europe

Abstract

The importance of pits for archaeological inference can hardly be overstated, given their virtual omnipresence in the archaeological record. In Prehistoric Europe pits occasionally form large concentrations known as 'pit sites', where they are the most visible, sometimes the sole, remnants of past human activity. If we follow the generally accepted view of pits as grain storage containers, how can we interpret the social role played by places comprising hundreds or even thousands of pits? This paper is an attempt to shed light on this topic by summarising and critically analysing much of the current knowledge on storage of grain in non-industrial societies. We will start by gathering relevant and up-to-date experimental, ethnographic and historical data about the challenges that the storage of grain poses and how pits may have helped Prehistoric communities to overcome them. This will be followed by a discussion of their advantages and disadvantages relative to other methods: why would anybody use airtight pits instead of, for instance, weather-proofed raised granaries? Next, we will undertake an examination of the social and economic contexts in which storage pits are an effective solution as opposed to those in which their performance is far from optimal. The conclusions drawn will serve as a background against which to evaluate current interpretations concerning three selected case studies in Prehistoric Western Europe.

Voluminous Evidence for an Elusive Period: Storage Pits and Surplus from Middle Chalcolithic Anatolia

“…In the ethnographic literature, there is broad consensus that underground silos served specifically for storing cereals, including wheat, barley, sorghum, and millet (Jiménez-Jáimez and Suárez-Padilla 2019;Sigaut 1988). Rice and maize are also reported (Caliboso and Sabio 1998;DeBoer 1988), as are nuts (Cunningham 2005;Sanger 2017), but these are less relevant for the current case study.…”

“…a low depth:diameter ratio) are less suitable for storage, because their openings are difficult to seal. Pits that are very narrow have an unfavorable surface to volume ratio, leading to a higher proportion of spoilage (DeBoer 1988, 5;Jiménez-Jáimez and Suárez-Padilla 2019). In experiments conducted in the 1970s at Butser Farm (UK), Peter Reynolds successfully stored grain in pits with a depth of 1.5 m and a diameter of 1.25 m (a ratio of 1.2) and with 1 m depth and 0.66 m diameter (a ratio of 1.5) (Hill, Lacey, and Reynolds 1983;Reynolds 1974).…”

“…Previously used silos need to be thoroughly cleaned to remove remaining insects, fungi, and other microbes, usually by burning a fire inside them. Conceivably, regularly replacing silo pits by newly dug ones was an easy method to further lower the risk of contamination (Jiménez-Jáimez and Suárez-Padilla 2019). This means that, in contrast to bins, ceramic vessels, and built depot spaces, a silo represents an actual storage event (or short sequence of events), rather than storage potential.…”

“…They can be easily concealed from outsiders, especially when constructed away from dwellings. Ethnographic and ethnohistoric studies, moreover, show that underground silos occur frequently among relatively mobile populations and in situations of seasonally abandoned settlements (DeBoer 1988;Jiménez-Jáimez and Suárez-Padilla 2019). As DeBoer describes, many of the societies of eastern North America hid their fall harvests in concealed underground pits during the seasonal abandonment of their aggregated summer settlements (1988, 9, table 1).…”

Jaroslav Řídký, Petr Květina, Petr Limburský, Markéta Končelová, Pavel Burgert and Radka Šumberová, 2019. Big Men or Chiefs? Rondel Builders of Neolithic Europe (Oxford & Philadelphia: Oxbow Books, 208pp., numerous b/w and colour illustr. and tables, hbk, ISBN 978-1-78925-026-8)

“…Not all pits are for storage, and discerning the function of a pit is in fact rather difficult (e.g. Jiménez-Jáimez & Suárez-Padilla, 2019). How have the authors solved this issue?…”