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onliNEOLITHIC LECTURE-9 Ian Kuijt
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"In the sensational moments of famine"
Neolithic food storage, risk, and self-insurance

Ian Kuijt

Food shortages, risk and famine were a reoccurring part of life in Neolithic communities. Control of food through storage represents one of, if not the, most important biological, economic and evolutionary thresholds for the successful development of small-scale farming and aggregate villages. In many ways, however, we know surprisingly little about early food storage, and have yet to engage with this critical topic. In this presentation I try to pull apart some of the complexities of early plant food storage, looking at the interconnectivity of food insecurity, storage planning, the materiality of food storage, and networks of food sharing. In brief, I argue that articulating the interrelationships between food storage, yearly planning, household decision-making, and community organization represents one of the greatest challenges that archaeologists face in understanding the global emergence of early agricultural villages.

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