Quern

Large ancient grinding stone for grain or corn. A rough but hard stone was necessary to avoid grit in the flour. Its earliest (Neolithic before 5600 BC) form was the saddle quern, where material was ground with a handstone (or muller) on an immobile concave stone. It was later replaced by the rotary quern (by Roman times), where one stone is rotated on another by hand, animal, or wind power. Lava was widely traded for this purpose.

A stone for grinding cereal grains into flour. Throughout most of later prehistory the characteristic form was the saddle quern, in which a hand rubber was pushed backwards and forwards on a concave base. From classical times this was replaced by the rotary quern, in which one stone was rotated on another, either by hand or with the help of animal, water or wind power.