The world's first purpose-built granary was unearthed by lan Kuijt, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, at Dhra' on a parched plateau next to the Dead Sea in the Jordan Valley. The structure, roughly 9 feet (2.9 m) square, was found about 2 feet (0.6 m) underground.
The granary is smaller than other nearby structures that appear to have been houses, an indication of its different use. Interestingly, the structure has two levels, an architectural feature never seen before in buildings of this age. Its significance as the world's first granary is that it belongs to one of the world's first settled farming communities, built just as people began to live in one place all year round rather than wandering from place to place in search of their food. In other words, it marks the time when early people were making the historic transition from
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