A well-stocked storehouse could, under certain circumstances, ensure the community’s survival. During the off-season, particularly in winter, the yield of edible produce from the natural world was meagre. Hunting fish, birds and forest animals alone provided neither sufficient yield nor enough variety in the diet. Crops, berries, mushrooms, vegetables, as well as fish and meat, were stored well preserved and protected from insects, mice, birds and mould in the storehouses of every village.

The food was stored in freely hanging leather or linen bags, in wooden barrels, earthenware pots and baskets. Dried, smoked or salted, the food could be kept for long periods. Oil was also a good preservative against spoilage and mould. Even today, vegetables are preserved in oil. This protects them from oxygen and ensures a long shelf life. Seasoned with herbs, they also acquire a delicate flavour. Some provisions, such as grain, were also stored in earthen cellars near the fields.

 

House type:

Single-room Bronze Age house (c. 1050 BC) with clay walls on a wattle-and-daub framework

made of twigs, featuring painted decoration.

Reconstructed:

1931/1977, based on excavations at the „Wasserburg Buchau“, Federsee moor, 1921–1937.

No ice in the fridge?

No fridge at all. There wasn’t even any electricity. Nevertheless, the pile-dwellers were able to store their food for long periods. Instead of electricity, they used the power of the sun or a blazing fire to dry it. They rubbed fish and meat with salt. This drew the water out of them. The preserved delicacies were stowed away in the storehouse, or smoked over the fire for a hearty flavour. By the way: even liquids stayed cool in earthenware pots. But earthenware pots were good for something else too: they blocked the path of thieving mice to the grain and seeds.

Have you spotted the mouse yet?