Institutional Grain Storage and its Control Network in the Ur III Province of Ĝirsu/Lagaš

The chapter analyses the management of grain storage facilities in an institutional context. After an overview of grain storage facilities as retrieved from the cuneiform record, individual case studies provide insights about how grain accrued at silos and granaries and in what quantity, how it was expended, and who were the socio-economic parties participating in this system. A specific section is reserved for the officials in charge of the management of the granaries and the relevance of their office in the provincial milieu. The issues of surplus, deficit, and misappropriation are also addressed. The collected data allow us to reconstruct the extent of institutional control over storage networks and grain redistribution.