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Schematic diagram of bell-shaped storage pit.


Crushed pot in storage pit, BBB Motor site.
Activities requiring light, air, or which resulted in an unsightly or smelly mess often took place at facilities outside the house. Wooden racks for drying meat and gourds, maize, and other organic materials, for example, likely required the space, air, and light outside of the house. Many of the isolated postholes revealed during the excavation of Mississippian residential sites are probably the only remnants of these sorts of facilities.

Other facilities, notably storage pits, garbage pits, and hearths, leave more direct evidence of their function. Like pits inside the home, those outside its walls were dug out of the soft alluvial earth and typically displayed vertical walls, or less often a bell-shape. To prevent spoilage and loss to vermin, many foods were placed in baskets and storage jars in the pits. The pits may well have been lined with mats as well. Some pit floors were "tiled" with limestone slabs and may have been covered by mats or animal hides.


Excavation of a granary showing semi-subterranean
construction, Cahokia Tract 15B.
Another food storage facility is the granary. While granaries may have been built and maintained for use by individual households, their small numbers and large size suggest a more communal, civic, or religious function.

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