Food Storage among the Iberians of the Late Iron Age Northwest Mediterranean (ca. 225–50 bc)

Bibliographic Data

ID12222019
AuthorsMateo González Vázquez (0000-0001-7138-9496, Universitat de Barcelona, corresponding author), Mateo González-Vázquez
Year2020
Volume32
Issue2
Pages149-172
Publication date2020-01-30
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Mediterranean Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0952-7648 • E-ISSN: 1743-1700
PublisherSheffield Academic Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1558/jma.40578
OpenAlexW3003584511
LanguageEN
Citations received6

Storage pits are one of the most common archaeological features of an area that comprises the Catalancoastal region and western Languedoc. Although some of these pits are found in the region from as earlyas the Neolithic period, it is not until the late Iron Age-early Roman period (ca. 225-50 bc) that theybecome pervasive in the archaeological record, and as such the prevailing tendency is to take these foodreserves as an indicator of increased social complexity, as evidence of the ability of the peasantry to producesurplus and as marking the completion of a diachronic process of sedentarisation, all three of which are traditionallylinked more generally to the practice of storage. Consequently, for the most part, this explanationgives a pivotal role to storage, but fails to address storage as an economic process in itself. With these scholarlymisconceptions in mind, I adopt a cross-cultural perspective in order to reconsider the role of storageas a crucial form of evidence for understanding economic structures, localised responses and the landscape.In connection with this, I suggest that the storage pits' function-to protect production from human (e.g.thieving) and natural threats-is an aspect of fundamental importance for any attempt to explain socialand cultural changes in Iberia from the beginning of Roman colonisation

Ancient history · Archaeological record · Archaeology · Art · Colonisation · Colonization · Geography · Iron Age · Mediterranean climate · Period (music · Archaeological and Historical Studies · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · History

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