Evidence for food storage and predomestication granaries 11,000 years ago in the Jordan Valley

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Jul 7;106(27):10966-70. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0812764106. Epub 2009 Jun 22.

Abstract

Food storage is a vital component in the economic and social package that comprises the Neolithic, contributing to plant domestication, increasingly sedentary lifestyles, and new social organizations. Recent excavations at Dhra' near the Dead Sea in Jordan provide strong evidence for sophisticated, purpose-built granaries in a predomestication context approximately 11,300-11,175 cal B.P., which support recent arguments for the deliberate cultivation of wild cereals at this time. Designed with suspended floors for air circulation and protection from rodents, they are located between residential structures that contain plant-processing instillations. The granaries represent a critical evolutionary shift in the relationship between people and plant foods, which precedes the emergence of domestication and large-scale sedentary communities by at least 1,000 years.

Publication types

  • Historical Article
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Agriculture / history
  • Edible Grain / history*
  • Food Supply / history*
  • Geography
  • History, Ancient
  • Jordan
  • Time Factors