Record

Quern

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from Balmaclellan, Galloway

Postcard of Quern.
000-100-033-279-C
© National Museums Scotland

Quern

Querns are stone handmills used mostly for grinding cereals. This picture shows the upper stone of a rotary quern found at Balmaclellan in Galloway, close to a hoard of Iron Age metal objects. It dates from between 50 and 340 AD.

The quern has been decorated with an equal-armed cross. The two holes near the edge were for inserting a handle to turn the stone.

Quernstones were an essential tool, widely used in Scotland into this century, especially on rural sites. They were an effective, if laborious, method for grinding. Some quernstones in the first millennium AD were widely traded.


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Online ID: 000-100-033-279-C
Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
Project: 0098: National Museums Scotland
Project description | View all records in project
Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.BB 7
Date: Between 50 and 340 AD
Material: Sandstone, red; ornamented cross on upper face
Dimensions: 14.00" D
What: Quern, rotary / stone, upper
Subject:
Who:
Where: Scotland, Kirkcudbrightshire, Balmaclellan
Event:
Description: Upper stone from a rotary quern ornamented with an equal-armed cross, from Balmaclellan
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