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. With 14 original papers by leading archaeologists from four continents, the bookd emonstrates the importance of understanding storage for the study of cultural evolution.