ArticleslgStudy

science

Prehistoric storage pits

Prehistoric storage pits is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Prehistoric storage pits rather than just read about it. In short: Storage pits are underground cists that were used historically to protect the seeds for the following year's crops, and to stop surplus food from being eaten by insects and rodents. These underground pits were sometimes lined and covered, for example with slabs of stone and bark and tightly sealed with adobe.

Prehistoric storage pits — main illustration
Prehistoric storage pits — illustration

Key takeaways

  • Prehistoric storage pits belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Prehistoric storage pits to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Prehistoric storage pits from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Storage pits are underground cists that were used historically to protect the seeds for the following year's crops, and to stop surplus food from being eaten by insects and rodents. These underground pits were sometimes lined and covered, for example with slabs of stone and bark and tightly sealed with adobe.

Examples Sannai-Maruyama Site in Aomori, Aomori Prefecture, Japan, contains storage pits that were used when hunter-gatherers developed from a nomadic lifestyle to settled villages about 3900 BC to 2900 BC. Large storage pits were built underground to conceal their presence, a preferred method used by mobile populations in many parts of the world.

Worlebury Camp storage pits are 93 storage pits found at the Iron Age hill fort that stood north of the town of Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, England. The pits were cut into bedrock for "keeps", one is a ditch for protection, and 74 are outside the "keep" but still enclosed within the exterior walls. The inhabitants used them to store grain, as is evidenced by the kernels of barley and wheat and the shards of pots that were found in the pits. Also found were remains of burned woven baskets and, dated to the 2nd or 1st century BC, sling stones and spindle whorls. and close to the village of Worle. Remains of human skeletons were found in 18 of the pits, 10 of which show evidence of a violent death. Māori storage pit sites remain clearly visible in many place in New Zealand. Pits were dug into soft rock faces as well as into earth, especially in Maori Pa (hillforts). Maori storage pits can be confused with fighting pits and also pits which were excavated to extract drainage material, especially on old river terraces where pumice had been deposited. The pumice was mixed with heavier soil to promote drainage for growing kumara (sweet potato), the principal vegetable crop of the Maori after about 1500. The Maori name for a storage pit is rua. An excavation found such storage pits on the sloping banks of the Waikato River below the Waikato Museum in early 2012.

References

Illustrations

Prehistoric storage pits: Granaries from an Iron Age Israelite fortress in the Negev, reconstructed at Derech Hadorot, Hecht Museum, Haifa
Granaries from an Iron Age Israelite fortress in the Negev, reconstructed at Derech Hadorot, Hecht Museum, Haifa
Prehistoric storage pits: Worlebury storage pits
Worlebury storage pits

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Prehistoric storage pits

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Prehistoric storage pits claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Prehistoric storage pits before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Prehistoric storage pits ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Prehistoric storage pits

In research
Prehistoric storage pits appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Prehistoric storage pits in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Prehistoric storage pits is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Archaeology in Asia, Archaeology of England, Native American history of Colorado, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Prehistoric storage pits outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Prehistoric storage pits” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Prehistoric storage pits in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Prehistoric storage pits means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Prehistoric storage pits out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Prehistoric storage pits in simple terms?

Storage pits are underground cists that were used historically to protect the seeds for the following year's crops, and to stop surplus food from being eaten by insects and rodents. These underground pits were sometimes lined and covered, for example with slabs of stone and bark and tightly sealed…

Why does Prehistoric storage pits matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Prehistoric storage pits?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Prehistoric storage pits.

Tags

  • Archaeology in Asia
  • Archaeology of England
  • Native American history of Colorado
  • Prehistoric agriculture

Keep exploring