when they wanted the food rather than producing and stor-
ing the food themselves.
Keeping grains dry was very important. Th e Harappan
civilization of about 2600 to 1500 b.c.e. made the preserva-
tion of grain a science in which they engineered sometimes
spectacular granaries for storing grain against hard times.
Th e cities of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro had granaries that
may have represented the apex of grain-storage technology.
Th e granary in Mohenjo Daro was about 150 feet in length
and about 75 feet wide, and it rested on a base of bricks about
20 feet high. Atop the base was a wooden, roofed structure
perhaps 12 feet high. Although the city had mostly narrow
streets, a large open space around the granary allowed easy
access for carts bringing in grain or unloading grain for dis-
tribution. Th ere was a loading platform along one side of the
building where grain could be hoisted up or lowered down.
Inside were wooden silos that held the grain. Under the fl oor
were air ducts, channels that circulated air to keep the grain
dry to prevent rotting. Th e granary looked like a fortress,
which has inspired some archaeologists to speculate that the
granary was like a bank that held the nation’s wealth. Th e
huge structure probably ensured that Harappans would have
food to eat during poor harvests.
Insects and rodents were threats to stored grain. In an-
cient China their feasting in granaries sometimes resulted in a
shortage of food. Keeping grain sealed helped keep out insects,
and large ceramic jars with tight lids were used in China, In-
dia, and Japan to protect grain. Although the ancient Japanese
typically built their structures with pits in the ground, they
raised their granaries on posts to help keep the stored grain
out of reach of mice and other pests. Th e shape of a granary
was rectangular. Four holes in the ground were pounded un-
til their bottoms were rock hard, then circular wooden posts
were set in them. A wooden fl oor a few feet above the ground
was installed, followed by walls attached to the posts and a
roof that was probably peaked and covered with dried grass,
although archaeologists disagree greatly among themselves
about this detail. It seems that by 100 c.e. nearly every village
in the Japanese islands had such a granary.
Another way to preserve food was to pack it in salt. Th e
salt would keep meat from going rancid for a time, usually
long enough to carry it through a season when food was
scarce. Meat preserved with salt had something in common
with dry grain: It needed water to make it edible. Rice is al-
most not chewable unless moistened. Salted meat needed to
be soa ked in water to wash out enough sa lt to ma ke it digest-
ible. In much of central and northern Asia water became
increasingly harder to fi nd throughout ancient times. For
nomads, this left them their wind-dried meats. For farm-
ers, this meant digging pits in which to store their foods,
though this practice seems to have come late to northern
China. Th e soldiers of the Great Wall had storage depots for
food and other supplies, but the farmers of the region still
needed to be taught about granaries and storage pits as late
as the 100s c.e.In India the need for water to make dry grain and salted
meat edible created a dangerous problem. People from cities
went to nearby rivers or to moats to fetch t heir water for cook-
ing, and the rivers and moats were dreadfully polluted by 300
b.c.e. Diseases transmitted by human waste, garbage, and
rodents lurked in the water, and underheated cooking water
could result in outbreaks of disease that could kill thousands
in crowded residential districts. Th e usually wet climate of
most of India also made it diffi cult to keep foods dry. Indi-
ans got around some of their food preservation problems
by tending gardens for fresh food. Even a small household
usually had a garden from which fruits and herbs could be
picked daily. Except for the cold and sometimes dry far north
of India, it was possible to have something ripe and edible
in a garden year-round. Both men and women were oft en
master gardeners, and men who were professional gardeners
took care to teach their daughters what they knew, because
the girls would ultimately be responsible for caring for the
food in their household gardens. It also was a good trade for
a woman to know, to make money for herself and her family
in the marketplace.EUROPE
BY MICHAEL J. O’NEAL
Th e ancient Europeans faced the same storage and preserva-
tion problems that ancient peoples the world over faced. Th e
enemies of food stored over a period of time include mois-
ture, temperature, microbes (including molds), and pests.
Without eff ective systems of food storage and preservation,
the ancient Europeans would have found it diffi cult to fend
off famine and starvation during the long, cold winters of the
North. Moreover, without methods of storage and preserva-
tion, it is not possible to accumulate perishable goods, trans-
port them, and trade them, activities that were a necessary
means to the accumulation of wealth and status.
Many of the technologies that the ancient Europeans
used to store and preserve food are still in use today. Th e only
fundamental diff erence is that ancient Europeans did not
have electricity to power the tools they used for the task. Ac-
cordingly, they relied on the tools that nature provided. One
method of preserving such food as meat, fi sh, vegetables, and
fruits was to dry them. With a low moisture content, food
was not as susceptible to spoilage. To dry food, the ancient
Europeans placed it in the sun and allowed warm air to cir-
culate around it. A variant of drying is cheese making. Th e
ancient Europeans were able to preserve milk in cheese form
by coagulating it and draining out the watery whey, leaving
behind the milk solids that had a much lower water content
than the original milk. In cool temperatures, cheese would
keep for many months. In Neolithic Britain residues of milk
fats have been found on fragments of pottery that date from
4500 b.c.e.
Th e problem the ancient Europeans faced, though, was
that for food to dry eff ectively, three to fi ve days of high tem-1066 storage and preservation: Europe0895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1066 1066 10/10/07 2:30:57 PM