Saddle quern and mortar
Molino de vaivén y mortero de piedra
- Date
- c. 9000 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Jericho and Abu Hureyra, the Levant and Euphrates
- Credited to
- Natufian and PPNA communities
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A concave slab and handstone used to grind grain into flour; in the Neolithic it becomes the universal household tool. It makes cereal digestible and enables bread and porridge.
Much older grinding stones exist (Ohalo II, c. 21,000 BCE); recorded here is their generalisation as an agricultural tool.
What it led to
- A flour-based diet and the emergence of cavities and dental wear
- Daily female grinding workload with characteristic skeletal injuries (Abu Hureyra)
- Preparation of flour for bread, porridge and malt
Built on
- Natufian mortars
- Upper Palaeolithic grinding stones (Ohalo II)