From the earliest farmers to the first urban centres: a socio-economic analysis of underground storage practices in north-eastern Iberia

Abstract

The evolution of storage features in prehistory hasbeen linked to larger socio-economic and demo-graphic changes. The investigation of such an evolu-tion in the archaeological record, however, isrestricted in scope, both geographically and chronologically. This article offers a comparative approach tounderstanding the development of Neolithic to LateIron Age (c.5600–50 BC) farming communities innorth-eastern Iberia, based on diachronic changes inthe volume and shape of underground storage silos. Results indicate that variations in silo capacity andmorphology correlate with archaeological evidence forlong-term socio-economic changes within these prehis-toric and protohistoric farming communities.