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The World's Second Oldest Profession
Recent research by Prof. Hercule dAlene suggests that self storage may be the Worlds second oldest profession. This article highlights some of the great historical self storage facilities.
The Upper Palaeolithic peoples of Central Europe are well known for their exquisite cave drawings. Fine examples exist in Lascaux, France; Cave of Altamira, Spain and Creswell Crags, UK. The eminent professors extensive studies suggest that the drawings of bison, horses and deer, informed hunter-gathering cavemen of what could be safely stored in each cave. Further research is required to validate this exciting hypothesis.
The world's most ambitious self storage operator must have been King Khufu. In 2560BC he finished The Great Pyramid of Giza. It's the only storage facility listed as one of the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World. The craftsmanship is remarkable, but the storage space a touch inefficient offering only 3 chambers. Clearly this building was intended for personal use rather than as a viable commercial operation. Customers would not have been impressed with the security as the contents of all 3 chambers were removed by thieves.
Noahs Ark offered the first mobile self storage solution. According to chapters 6-9 of the Book of Genesis, the Ark was a large vessel built by Noah, at God's command. It saved Noah, his family, and a representation of the world's animals from a great flood. Modern storage companies dont store animals, but fortunately Noah saw the advantage of ignoring this rule.
In 210BC Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China decided to store a terracotta army. In all 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots, 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses were put into storage. This modest effort required 7,000 workers. In this case security was superb and the army was only discovered in 1974 by some farmers drilling for water. Having survived for over 2000 years the army is now under attack by 9 different kinds of mould and by the breath of visitors. They should have opted for a climate controlled storage facility.
World War II gave the Luftwaffe their opportunity to shine in the storage of allied prisoners-of-war. They believed their purpose built state-of-the-art facility was escape proof. Foolishly the put all their bad eggs in one basket; most prisoners had impressive escape records. How could a mere camp contain Dickie Attenborough, Steve McQueen and Ives. Throw in Charles Bronson, who could dig a tunnel before lunch and you're just asking for trouble. And that's just what they got. A mass escape which upset Adolf terribly. Storage is all about security and this camp just didn't deliver.
The United States Bullion Depository, commonly called Fort Knox, is a fortified vault building located near Fort Knox, Kentucky, which is used to store a large portion of United States official gold reserves and, occasionally, other precious items belonging or entrusted to the federal government. Now that makes it a pretty valuable self storage operation. Who else can claim to store $134 billion worth of goods? Well Jeremy Irons in Die Hard with a Vengeance knew that he'd make more by targeting the Federal Reserve in New York.
The British Houses of Parliament is currently used as a storage facility for politicians. Sadly the occupants of this facility are free to come and go as they please. Each Honorable Member was elected to serve their constituents and give moral leadership to the nation. Instead many appear to have feathered their own nests. Indeed they seem to have several nests all of which require lavish feathers funded by the British Taxpayer. This self storage location is in need of a deep clean and fumigation but will hopefully shine again as the mother of all storage centres.
Who'd have thought when Zog the caveman offered to store some meat for the hunter-gatherers of the Upper Palaeolithic period that self storage would endure for so long? At some point in their lives everyone needs a little storage.
About the Author Rob Shorten is a creative student of history. He's also a self storage entrepreneur, web conversion expert, a marsupialologist, a weaver of tales, halitosisist and father to Blossom and Maximus. His presentation on the history of self storage was the hit of this years storage convention in Little Rock. Have a look at a modern self storage facility Kangaroo Self Storage. Qin Shi Huang would be amazed.
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