General map of the 'Amuq with sites mentioned in the text (courtesy of S. Batiuk, CRANE Project).

Contexts in source publication

Context 1

... the shallower pits indicates the presence of a mud brick structure built above ground level; the reduced width of the opening facilitated its closure. It is unclear how much higher the installation protruded from the ground level since all known examples in Syria are only partially preserved (e.g. the silo complex in Hama Phase H, Fugmann 1958: fig. 116, 2 which extended a maximum of 40/50 cm above ground). Above ground storage installations such as granaries and storehouses are suited for hosting easily accessible grains and are well known in archaeological and epigraphic sources both in Anatolia and Mesopotamia. 3 These specific installations were not, however, identified in the ...

Context 2

... remains were found in the same area. Similar large-scale installations were identified at Tell Tayinat: still in Field I but during FP 4, a squared mud brick-lined installation was located in the same area where grain-storage pits had been previously identified; its dimensions are very similar to the Kilise Tepe examples (Welton et al. 2019: fig. 10) but it predates them (10th century BCE, cf. Harrison ...

Context 3

... accordingly. 17 Are the large grain silos then a marker for this kind of policy? From an archaeological point of view, only a few observations may be added in this regard. The available archaeological evidence points to the construction of large silos or underground structures inside settlements located in central Anatolia (cf. Castellano 2018: fig. 12) mainly in the 16th century BCE, i.e. well before the Imperial phase of the Hittite Empire. All silos known at this point seem to fall into disuse by the 14th century BC, leaving a gap of approximately three centuries before the first (possible) re-appearance of a silo at Arslantepe. Moreover, during the 14th and 13th centuries BCE ...