Quern (6 of 8)

Querns are stone handmills used mostly for grinding cereals. This picture shows the inner surface of the lower 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.

Channels have been chiselled into the stone, radiating from the centre. As the cereal was ground, the crushed grains were forced out along these grooves. The lower stone remained stationary, while the upper stone was turned.

Querns are common on the military sites throughout Roman Britain. Wheat was the main item of a soldier's diet, and querns were needed to grind wheat and other cereals commonly used. Much of the grain was imported to the forts.

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