the surface of the pot less permeable to air and moisture and
helps prevent the contents from spoiling. By the Chalcolithic
Period (also known as the Copper Age, ca. 4500–ca. 3300
b.c.e.) pottery was becoming a specialized craft , and pots
could be made in a variety of sizes and shapes. Th ese new
shapes became necessary because Near Eastern farmers from
the Chalcolithic Period onward were experimenting with
new ways of preserving foodstuff s. Around this time they be-
gan to crush grapes and olives for wine and oil, which obvi-
ously required quite diff erent storage containers from whole
olives or dried grapes (raisins). Scholars believe that around
this time the farmers also began to dry fi gs and dates, though
it is possible that in a hot, dry climate this sort of preservation
would have been happening all along.
Aft er the Chalcolithic Period centralized government
arose in the Fertile Crescent, fi rst in the form of city-states
and later as kingdoms and even empires. It is oft en said that
developments in food technology, including storage, are in-
separable from this change. Th e evidence of texts and of ar-
chaeology makes it clear that the structures of the ruling elite
were economic centers as well as residences or temples. In
early Sumer, for example, where the priesthood oft en ruled
the cities, storehouses were oft en located close to the temples.
Th ese government storehouses served multiple purposes:
Th ey provided long-term storage for grain and other food-
stuff s for seed and as a guard against famine, and they were
used as shorter-term storage for goods to be traded or redis-
tributed as rations or wages.
Many diff erent types of food were now being kept for
a longer term, and this necessitated new preservation tech-
niques. For example, while yogurt may have been made in
the Chalcolithic Period, by Sumerian times the milk of sheep,
goats, and cattle was preserved by being made into cheese and
ghee (clarifi ed butter). Grapes and dates were dried or pressed
for their juice, which could be left to ferment into either wine
or vinegar. Th e grape and date juice itself could also be boiled
down until it became a synthetic form of honey. (Real honey
was expensive and probably mostly imported.) Th e concen-
tration of sugars caused by boiling down the juice inhibited
the growth of bacteria, so the syrup would keep without
spoiling. Pomegranates, another widely grown fruit, would
keep without processing if stored carefully.
Pulses, legumes, and similar vegetables were dried for
storage. Some other vegetables, such as mushrooms, could
also have been dried. Drying, salting, and possibly smoking
were used in various parts of the ancient Near East to keep
meat and especially fi sh. Th e bones of saltwater fi sh found at
inland sites in Sumer show that some sort of preservation of
fi sh for shipment was taking place by the third millennium
b.c.e. Sumerian texts show that they were making a kind of
fermented fi sh sauce as well. Although most meat was eaten
right away, the types that would have been available for pro-
cessing included goat, beef, mutton, venison, and pork. Poul-
try such as ducks and geese were also raised and their meat
dried or smoked.As urban centers and the centralized control of commod-
ities grew, larger storage facilities were needed. Grain, which
was made into bread and (since the fourth millennium b.c.e.)
beer, was stored in great quantities. Th e Middle Bronze Age
(ca. 2000–ca. 1500 b.c.e.) silos at Beth Yerah are estimated
to have held as much as 40 tons of grain. Other contempo-
rary cities in this area, however, had a diff erent solution to the
problem of grain storage. Th ey excavated downward rather
than building upward to make their granaries. By the Iron
Age (ca. 1200–ca. 586 b.c.e.) cities like Jericho and Megiddo
were building rectangular storehouses and storerooms with
thick walls to keep the grain and foodstuff s cool and dry. Ar-
chaeologists in Israel have uncovered storehouses in which
the stored items were kept in pottery bins or jars. Occasion-
ally, commodities such as grain were stored loose in these
rooms. Th e remains of barley and wheat show that these were
the main cereals grown and stored in the granaries.ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
BY KIRK H. BEETZ
Th e need to provide food during lean times was met in many
diff erent ways in Asia and the Pacifi c, depending on the food
that was available, the climate, and people’s cultures. Th e fi rst
people in Australia found a fairly wet climate and big forests,
but the continent gradually dried out, leaving only small for-
ests in areas that remained wet. Th e Australians coped by
spreading out in a thin population over the continent. By liv-
ing in small, family-oriented groups with a great deal of space
for hunting and gathering food, the ancient Australians were
able to thrive when food was plentiful and still fi nd enough
food to survive when times were lean. Rather than store large
caches of food, they made sure there were not too many people
to use what food was available to them throughout the year.
In tropical climates storing food was diffi cult because the
regions tended to be wet, and moisture helped to decay food.
One way to preserve fi sh was to smoke it. Th is involved sus-
pending fi sh over a low-burning, smoky fi re that would rapidly
dry the fi sh. Fish devoid of moisture could remain edible for
weeks or even months. Cultures throughout the South Pacifi c
and the Indian Ocean used this technique. In areas where ta-
pirs or other sources of meat were available, meat was smoked.
Techniques for storing smoked meat varied but usually in-
volved hanging the dried meat either inside the home or un-
derground in a chamber dug for the purpose of storing smoked
meats, keeping the food away from scavenging animals.
Nomads in central and northern Asia hung meat from
poles or skewers to allow the wind to dry it. It was important
to allow the meat to dangle and to cut it thinly enough for
the wind to dry it thoroughly. Th e climate of central Asia was
drying out during the ancient era, creating excellent condi-
tions for drying meat rapidly. It was diffi cult for the nomads
to store bulky foods such as the grains most oft en grown in
their regions: millet, wheat, and barley. Th us they sometimes
took to raiding farming communities to steal the harvestsstorage and preservation: Asia and the Pacific 10650895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1065 1065 10/10/07 2:30:57 PM