Storage Facilities
The archaeological identification of storage facilities has important implications for interpreting the character of prehistoric adaptations. The storing of food and other goods implies an intention either to remain in one place for an extended period of time or to return to that place, while excluding other people from its use. Food storage may have permitted a higher regional population density, more flexibility in scheduling temporary amalgamations of large groups for social and ceremonial purposes, and more elaborate exchange systems. On the other hand, food storage may have discouraged strict egalitarianism, group amalgamations, and exchange systems by permitting fuller use of the available resources by a restricted group, and it may have offered a potent incentive for interpersonal and intergroup conflict.
The local ethnographic record suggests that a considerable range of foods was regularly stored. Included were such staples as acorns, agave, and mesquite.
| Resource | Processing Before Storage | Storage Container | Reference |
| Agave deserti (agave) | dried, cooked | pot | Barrows 1900; Bean and Saubel 1972; Hicks 1963; Wilken 2012 |
| Amaranthus palmeri (amaranth) | dried, cooked | granary | Hicks 1963; Kelly 1977 |
| Amelanchier pallida (serviceberry) | — | — | Bean and Saubel 1972 |
| Arctostaphylos spp. (manzanita) | dried | pot | Bean and Saubel 1972 |
| Atriplex spp. (saltbush) | — | — | Bean and Saubel 1972; Gifford 1931; Hicks 1963 |
| Cercidium spp. (palo verde) | — | granary | Hicks 1963 |
| Chenopodium spp. (goosefoot) | cooked | granary | Barrows 1900; Bean and Saubel 1972; Hicks 1963 |
| Cucurbita moschata (pumpkin) | dried | pit, pot, granary | Bean and Saubel 1972; Castetter and Bell 1951; Drucker 1937, 1941; Hicks 1963; Kelly 1977 |
| Echinocactus acanthodes (barrel cactus) | dried, cooked | pot | Bean and Saubel 1972; Hicks 1963 |
| Juniperus californica (juniper) | dried | — | Bean and Saubel 1972; Hicks 1963; Wilken 2012 |
| Lycium spp. (wolfberry) | dried, cooked | pot | Castetter and Bell 1951; Hicks 1963 |
| Olneya tesota (ironwood) | — | — | Hicks 1963 |
| Opuntia spp. (cholla, beavertail, tuna, etc.) | dried | pot | Barrows 1900; Bean and Saubel 1972; Hicks 1963; Wilken 2012 |
| Panicum spp. (panic grass) | — | pot | Hicks 1963 |
| Phaseolus spp. (bean) | dried, cooked | pot, granary | Castetter and Bell 1951; Drucker 1937; Gifford 1931, 1933; Hicks 1963; Kelly 1977 |
| Pinus spp. (pine) | cooked | pit, pot, granary | Bean 1972; Bean and Saubel 1972; Hicks 1963 |
| Prosopis spp. (mesquite, screwbean) | dried, cooked | pit, pot, granary | Barrows 1900; Bean 1972; Bean and Saubel 1972; Castetter and Bell 1951; Drucker 1937; Gifford 1931, 1933; Hicks 1963; Kelly 1977 |
| Prunus illicifolia (islaya) | dried | — | Hicks 1963; Wilken 2012 |
| Quercus spp. (oak) | dried | pot, granary | Bean and Saubel 1972; Drucker 1941; Hedges 1986; Sparkman 1908; Hicks 1963; Spier 1923; Wilken 2012 |
| Rubus spp. (blackberry) | dried | — | Bean and Saubel 1972 |
| Salvia columbariae (chia) | dried, cooked | pot | Barrows 1900; Bean and Saubel 1972; Hicks 1963 |
| Sambucus mexicana (elderberry) | dried | pot | Barrows 1900; Bean and Saubel 1972; Hicks 1963; Wilken 2012 |
| Typha spp. (cattail) | dried | pot | Castetter and Bell 1951 |
| Washingtonia filifera (fan palm) | dried | pot | Bean 1972; Bean and Saubel 1972; Wilken 2012 |
| Yucca spp. (yucca) | dried, cooked | pot, granary | Bean 1972; Bean and Saubel 1972; Hicks 1963; Wilken 2012 |
| Zea mays (corn) | — | pot, granary | Castetter and Bell 1951; Drucker 1941; Gifford 1931 |
| various tubers, roots | dried, cooked | — | Bean 1972 |
| various greens | dried | — | Bean and Shipek 1978 |
| various fruits, blossoms, buds | dried | — | Bean 1978 |
| seeds of cultigens, semi-cultivated species, for planting | — | — | Castetter and Bell 1951 |
| meat, fish | dried, cooked | — | Bean 1972; Castetter and Bell 1951; Drucker 1937, 1941; Gifford 1933; Hicks 1963; Shipek 1991; Sparkman 1908 |
| shellfish | dried | — | Hicks 1963 |
| insects | dried, cooked | — | Castetter and Bell 1951 |
Three main types of archaeological remains are interpretable as evidence of the use of storage facilities: ceramic storage vessels, excavated storage pits, and granary foundations. Storage facilities may be recognizable on the basis of their form, their locations, and the residues associated with them:
- Compared to cooking vessels, ceramic storage vessels are likely to have had relatively narrow mouths, to permit closure; ceramic lids may also be associated with them. Gena R. Van Camp (1979:54-55) suggested that large jars were used by the Kumeyaay for storing dry foods, as well as non-food materials, for extended periods; that medium-sized jars were used for short-term storage of food and water; and that small jars were used to transport food and water. Measurements taken by Van Camp on over 300 vessels showed a bimodal distribution in vessel height, with one peak around 35 centimeters and a second peak around 20 centimeters.
- Under exceptional conditions, stored materials have been found still preserved inside ceramic storage vessels (e.g., Treganza 1947).
- Testing for residues on the interior rims of ceramic vessels might reveal traces of substances, such as arrowweed gum, pine pitch, or beeswax, that were used in hermetically sealing storage vessels.
- Large ceramic vessels have occasionally been found in remote rockshelters in eastern San Diego County, with little or no associated cultural material. Such vessels seem likely to have served as storage caches.
- “Spirit sticks” have been observed archaeologically in local rockshelters (May 1987). Such sticks are reported ethnographically to have been used to protect caches supernaturally from poachers (Bean 1972:54), although other functions for these artifacts have also been suggested (cf. Campbell 1931; May 1987; Treganza 1942).
- Excavated storage pits would often be difficult to distinguish from other subsurface features, such as excavations for structures or earth ovens, particularly if postdepositional disturbance has blurred their outlines. Philip J. Wilke (1986) interpreted six to eight subsurface, rock-lined features at Indian Hill Rockshelter (SDI-2537) as storage cists.
- Aboriginal platform granaries have been documented by photographs and ethnographic descriptions (e.g., Barrows 1900; Gifford 1931; Kelly 1977; Spier 1923). The holes for the posts used to erect granaries, if they are preserved and discovered during archaeological excavation, might be distinguishable from the postholes for other structures, on the basis of their spacing and the absence of other structural elements (such as ditches or floors) that might be associated with non-granary postholes.
- Rock rings on large boulder outcrops have often been interpreted as granary foundations (e.g., James 1995; True et al. 1991:10-11). Don Laylander and Lynne E. Christenson (1988) discussed the presence of such features at several sites in the Corral Canyon area. They noted several objections to the interpretation of these features as granary foundations, including the absence of any ethnographic reference to this exact form of granary foundation, the greater diameter of the rock rings as compared to the ethnographically-reported granary diameters, and the generally close association of granaries with living areas that is implied ethnographically but the separation of the Corral Canyon rock rings from such areas.
PROSPECTS
Future archaeological investigations may be able to clarify the chronology, extent, and methods of resource storage in prehistoric San Diego County. Evidence relevant to these issues may include the forms of possible storage features, the presence or absence of residues in them, and the contexts in which they occur.