storage and preservation: Egypt South of Kush, along the coast of East Africa, lived people who seemed to put water to another use According to the Greek geographer Strabo (64 or 63 b.c.e.–after 23 c.e.), fishermen of the region stored shellfish and fish in pools of water near the shore to keep for eating later, perhaps when catches were poor This is a logical practice, and Strabo took greater pains than most ancient geographers to make his accounts accurate A later development was the use of baskets to catch fish and keep them in water This use of baskets was also found among Bantu-speaking peoples of West Africa The Bantu speakers were farmers, and by 200 c.e they were advancing east and south out of West Africa, using their iron tools to carve out farms from forests How they stored their harvests is not entirely clear, but inferences can be made from the recorded practices of their descendants One is that their granaries were elevated above the ground on posts made of tree branches This helped protect the grain not only from pests such as rats but also from flooding, a common problem in central Africa and parts of eastern Africa south of Kush Another practice was that of making granaries out of walls of woven mats and conical roofs of long rushes that ran lengthwise from the peaks down to the edges, thus making rainwater flow out and away from the granary Much of this inference is speculative because archaeologists have not made much progress in researching in Africa’s forests; the central regions are remote and therefore hard to reach, and the region has been very dangerous for scientists because of bandits and warfare EGYPT BY 1063 In a society without money, rations had a special significance; food had to be stored within the food circle from harvest or slaughtering to ration distribution Grain was stored in large quantities at the local, provincial, and state level in granary silos whose maximum capacity was calculated by scribes Some silos are partly excavated, while others have been depicted in artwork or as model granaries in tombs Depictions of stored grain or models placed in tombs were meant to guarantee a supply of food for the dead Scenes portray people sacking up and carrying the grain from fields to the granaries, sometimes using donkeys Grain was put directly into storage facilities after winnowing, sieving, recording, and measuring by scribes At the granary porters carried the baskets up the stairs to the charging hole, where the grain was poured in The process was supervised by a scribe or administrator who recorded intakes, storage, and removal All harvested goods belonged not to the farmer but to the king or to the temples or nobles who had received the land as a gift from the king The first small-scale granaries were pits with basketry linens and a total yield of about 7.5 pounds In El Faiyûm, a large oasis, Egyptologists have found well-preserved wheat and barley from the Neolithic Period (dating to about 5200 b.c.e.) This shows the long tradition of storage that preceded dynastic times Other early examples are in El Badâri in northern Upper Egypt about 4500 b.c.e., where postholes, pits, and storage jars were found The oldest large granaries were cones with round bases and domed tops that were made of mud brick or seasoned wood and sometimes plastered The larger ones had steps or a ladder leading to a hole at the top KATHARINA ZINN Most food in ancient Egypt was not produced or consumed daily, and to be kept longer it had to be preserved Methods of storage and preservation were designed to solve this problem and to accommodate the growing population of the region Stored or preserved food could include grain, fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, poultry, and wine The storage facilities in ancient Egypt showed a wide range of types and extended from single storage jars or basketwork containers for domestic use to large storeroom complexes Meat, fish, and poultry were stored in pottery vessels Plates or bowls were used to hold offerings (it was necessary to offer food to the deceased daily), and tightly closed jars were used for long-term storage Oil, fat, and suet were stored in stoneware jars Grain was stored in small domestic pits or jars as well as large-scale granaries controlled by the state or a temple, such as the Ramesseum (a mortuary temple in Thebes dedicated to the Egyptian king Ramses II [r 1290–1224 b.c.e.]) and Medinet Habu (dedicated to Ramses III [r 1194–1163 b.c.e.]) Storerooms for grain and other agricultural products were named shenut (“barns”) and had a specific administrative structure devoted to their maintenance Precious goods, such as herbs, spices, and salt, were kept in small leather or linen bags Of further importance was the form of rations for food supply Painted wooden model of a granary, from Aswān, Egypt, Sixth Dynasty, around 2200 b.c.e (© The Trustees of the British Museum)