The ability to accumulate and store large amounts of goods is a key feature of complex societies in ancient times. Storage strategies reflect the broader economic and political organization of a society and changes in the development of control mechanisms in both administrative and non-administrative—often kinship based—sectors. This is the first volume to examine storage practices in ancient complex societies from a comparative perspective. The book

-includes 14 original papers by leading archaeologists from four continents;

-compares storage systems in three key regions with lengthy traditions of complexity: the ancient Near East, Mesoamerica, and Andes;

-demonstrates the importance of understanding storage for the study of cultural evolution.