Caching your savings: The use of small-scale storage in European prehistory

Understanding of European prehistoric storage practices tends to focus on the long-term and large-scale storage of cereals from the Neolithic onwards. In addition, storage is often associated with the development of sedentism and social complexity. Through the use of anthropological and ethnographic data this paper demonstrates that storage by both hunter–gatherers and farmers is more complex. New storage categories, such as closed and open caches, and portable storage, are suggested as ways of understanding whether similar storage practices were used during European prehistory. We learn that although direct evidence for storage is difficult to find in the archaeological record, a combination of ethnographic data and indirect evidence demonstrates that storage, especially this use of small-scale storage, was practiced in prehistory. In the conclusion, this paper demonstrates that storage during the Mesolithic (11,300–6000 BP) would have played a vital role in the lifeways of hunter–gatherers and that for the Neolithic (6000–4500 BP) the use of small-scale storage of a variety of foods would have been equally important as the storage of grain.

Graphical abstractAn experimental cache pit testing the suitability of small-scale storage in a cylindrical shaped pit.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (206 K)Download as PowerPoint slideResearch highlights► Small-scale storage categories: Open caches, Closed caches, Portable storage. ► Indirect evidence of storage in the archaeological record. ► Small-scale storage practices used during the Mesolithic and Neolithic. ► Practical and social benefits of small-scale storage.