Food Storage

Various technologies evolved over the industrial era to enable the hygienic storage of mass-produced food and beverages. A wide range of metal, ceramic, and glass containers were developed, distributed, and discarded on historic sites across the world. This chapter outlines the primary diagnostic features of artefacts associated with the food storage industries. These material characteristics may be used to determine the original contents, date of manufacture, and source of production for these ubiquitous and commonly recovered cans, bottles, and jars. It provides an overview of food storage containers as a ubiquitous artefact category within industrial archaeology.