Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2024-69
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2024-69
06 Nov 2024
 | 06 Nov 2024
Status: this preprint is currently under review for the journal CP.

Public granaries as a source of proxy data on grain harvests and weather extremes for historical climatology

Rudolf Brázdil, Jan Lhoták, Kateřina Chromá, Dominik Collet, Petr Dobrovolný, and Heli Huhtamaa

Abstract. Public granaries served as key infrastructures to improve food security in agrarian societies. Their history dates to the oldest complex societies, but they experienced a boom period during the 18th and early 19th centuries in Europe. In Bohemia and Moravia (modern-day Czech Republic), numerous granaries were established by decree in 1788 to provide serfs with grain for sowing in the face of fluctuating weather. Here, we analyze granary data from 15 out of a total of 17 considered domains in the Sušice region (southwest Bohemia) from 1789 to 1849 CE. We use the documented annual values of grain borrowed by serfs, their grain depositions, total grain storage, and the total debt of serfs at the end of the year as proxies for harvest quality and size. Based on the series of these four variables, we calculate weighted grain indices, considering the balance between borrowed and returned grain: a weighted bad harvest index (WBHI), a weighted good harvest index (WGHI), a weighted stored grain index (WSGI: WSGI-, more borrowed than returned; WSGI+, more returned than borrowed), and a weighted serf debt index (WSDI: WSDI+, more borrowed than returned grain; WSDI-, more returned than borrowed grain). WBHI, WSGI-, and WSDI+ were used to select years of extreme bad harvests, and WGHI, WSGI+, and WSDI- to identify years of extreme good harvests. We tested selected extreme harvest years against documentary weather data and reconstructed temperature, precipitation, and drought series from the Czech Lands. We discuss the uncertainty of the data and the broader context of the results obtained. The findings document the potential of this new methodology, using widely available public granary data as proxies for historical climatological research.

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Rudolf Brázdil, Jan Lhoták, Kateřina Chromá, Dominik Collet, Petr Dobrovolný, and Heli Huhtamaa

Status: open (until 01 Jan 2025)

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Rudolf Brázdil, Jan Lhoták, Kateřina Chromá, Dominik Collet, Petr Dobrovolný, and Heli Huhtamaa
Rudolf Brázdil, Jan Lhoták, Kateřina Chromá, Dominik Collet, Petr Dobrovolný, and Heli Huhtamaa

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Short summary
Public granaries served as key infrastructures to improve food security in agrarian societies. The granary data from 15 domains at the Sušice region (southwestern Bohemia) in the period 1789–1849 CE were used to identify years with bad and good grain harvests, which have been further confronted with documentary data and climatic reconstructions. Data used represent the new source of proxy data for historical-climatological research.