Quern (3 of 8)

Querns are stone handmills used mostly for grinding cereals. This picture shows the side of the upper stone of a rotary quern found at the site of the Roman fort at Newstead in Roxburghshire. It was used sometime between 80 and 180 AD.

The side of the upper stone is decorated with chiselled lines. The iron handle which protrudes from the side is visible at the bottom of the picture. It was used to turn the two stones.

The earliest type of quern, the saddle quern, was used from around 3800 BC. In the late centuries BC, it was replaced by the more efficient rotary quern. Rotary querns occur in various shapes and sizes. They were used in Scotland until this century.

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