storage and preservation: Asia and the Pacific the surface of the pot less permeable to air and moisture and helps prevent the contents from spoiling By the Chalcolithic Period (also known as the Copper Age, ca 4500–ca 3300 b.c.e.) pottery was becoming a specialized craft, and pots could be made in a variety of sizes and shapes These new shapes became necessary because Near Eastern farmers from the Chalcolithic Period onward were experimenting with new ways of preserving foodstuffs Around this time they began to crush grapes and olives for wine and oil, which obviously required quite different storage containers from whole olives or dried grapes (raisins) Scholars believe that around this time the farmers also began to dry figs and dates, though it is possible that in a hot, dry climate this sort of preservation would have been happening all along After the Chalcolithic Period centralized government arose in the Fertile Crescent, first in the form of city-states and later as kingdoms and even empires It is often said that developments in food technology, including storage, are inseparable from this change The evidence of texts and of archaeology makes it clear that the structures of the ruling elite were economic centers as well as residences or temples In early Sumer, for example, where the priesthood often ruled the cities, storehouses were often located close to the temples These government storehouses served multiple purposes: They provided long-term storage for grain and other foodstuffs for seed and as a guard against famine, and they were used as shorter-term storage for goods to be traded or redistributed as rations or wages Many different types of food were now being kept for a longer term, and this necessitated new preservation techniques For example, while yogurt may have been made in the Chalcolithic Period, by Sumerian times the milk of sheep, goats, and cattle was preserved by being made into cheese and ghee (clarified butter) Grapes and dates were dried or pressed for their juice, which could be left to ferment into either wine or vinegar The grape and date juice itself could also be boiled down until it became a synthetic form of honey (Real honey was expensive and probably mostly imported.) The concentration of sugars caused by boiling down the juice inhibited the growth of bacteria, so the syrup would keep without spoiling Pomegranates, another widely grown fruit, would keep without processing if stored carefully Pulses, legumes, and similar vegetables were dried for storage Some other vegetables, such as mushrooms, could also have been dried Drying, salting, and possibly smoking were used in various parts of the ancient Near East to keep meat and especially fish The bones of saltwater fish found at inland sites in Sumer show that some sort of preservation of fish for shipment was taking place by the third millennium b.c.e Sumerian texts show that they were making a kind of fermented fish sauce as well Although most meat was eaten right away, the types that would have been available for processing included goat, beef, mutton, venison, and pork Poultry such as ducks and geese were also raised and their meat dried or smoked 1065 As urban centers and the centralized control of commodities grew, larger storage facilities were needed Grain, which was made into bread and (since the fourth millennium b.c.e.) beer, was stored in great quantities The Middle Bronze Age (ca 2000–ca 1500 b.c.e.) silos at Beth Yerah are estimated to have held as much as 40 tons of grain Other contemporary cities in this area, however, had a different solution to the problem of grain storage They excavated downward rather than building upward to make their granaries By the Iron Age (ca 1200–ca 586 b.c.e.) cities like Jericho and Megiddo were building rectangular storehouses and storerooms with thick walls to keep the grain and foodstuffs cool and dry Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered storehouses in which the stored items were kept in pottery bins or jars Occasionally, commodities such as grain were stored loose in these rooms The remains of barley and wheat show that these were the main cereals grown and stored in the granaries ASIA AND THE PACIFIC BY KIRK H BEETZ The need to provide food during lean times was met in many different ways in Asia and the Pacific, depending on the food that was available, the climate, and people’s cultures The first people in Australia found a fairly wet climate and big forests, but the continent gradually dried out, leaving only small forests in areas that remained wet The Australians coped by spreading out in a thin population over the continent By living in small, family-oriented groups with a great deal of space for hunting and gathering food, the ancient Australians were able to thrive when food was plentiful and still find enough food to survive when times were lean Rather than store large caches of food, they made sure there were not too many people to use what food was available to them throughout the year In tropical climates storing food was difficult because the regions tended to be wet, and moisture helped to decay food One way to preserve fish was to smoke it This involved suspending fish over a low-burning, smoky fire that would rapidly dry the fish Fish devoid of moisture could remain edible for weeks or even months Cultures throughout the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean used this technique In areas where tapirs or other sources of meat were available, meat was smoked Techniques for storing smoked meat varied but usually involved hanging the dried meat either inside the home or underground in a chamber dug for the purpose of storing smoked meats, keeping the food away from scavenging animals Nomads in central and northern Asia meat from poles or skewers to allow the wind to dry it It was important to allow the meat to dangle and to cut it thinly enough for the wind to dry it thoroughly The climate of central Asia was drying out during the ancient era, creating excellent conditions for drying meat rapidly It was difficult for the nomads to store bulky foods such as the grains most often grown in their regions: millet, wheat, and barley Thus they sometimes took to raiding farming communities to steal the harvests