Quern-stone

A stone used in a quern to grind grain or other materials against another stone. Quern-stones may be rubbed by hand or rotated around an axle.

Upper stone: The moving stone in a two-stone quern, also called the runner stone. It applies motion and pressure to material resting between the stones.
Neolithic: The later Stone Age, marked in many regions by farming, settled communities, and polished stone tools. Quern-stones became widespread as communities increasingly processed cultivated grain.
Corn grinding: The mechanical crushing of maize kernels into meal or flour. Querns could process maize as well as other cereal grains.
Saddle quern: A grinding arrangement in which a handstone is rubbed back and forth over a stationary lower stone. Unlike a rotary quern, it uses reciprocal rubbing instead of circular rotation.
Lower stone: The stationary or supporting stone beneath the moving stone in a quern. Its surface supports the grain as the upper stone grinds it.
Neolithic Revolution: The transition in some societies from foraging to farming and settled life. Routine grain cultivation increased the need for durable grinding equipment.
Flour: A fine powder made by grinding cereal grains, seeds, or roots. Producing flour was a principal use of grain-grinding quern-stones.
Rotary quern: A quern with two stones, one rotated over the other to grind material between them. It contrasts with saddle querns through its rotating paired stones.
Quern handle: A handle used to turn or move a quern's upper stone. It transmits human force to the moving stone.
Olynthus mill: An ancient Greek rotary mill design with a hopper-shaped upper stone turned by a handle. It is a distinctive ancient development in rotary quern construction.

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