Quern-stone

Quern-stones are stone tools for hand-grinding a wide variety of materials. They were used in pairs. The lower, stationary, stone is called a quern, while the upper mobile stone is called a handstone. They were first used in the Neolithic to grind cereals into flour.

Uses of quern-stones

Grain

Quern-stones have been used throughout the world to grind materials, the most important of which was usually grain to make flour for bread-making. They were generally replaced by millstones once mechanised forms of milling appeared, particularly the water mill and the windmill, although animals were also used to operate the millstones. However, in many non-Westernised, non-mechanised cultures they are still manufactured and used regularly and have only been replaced in many parts of the world in the last century or so.

In early Maya civilizations the process of nixtamalization was distinctive in that hard, ripe kernels of maize (corn) were boiled in water and lime, thus producing nixtamal which was then made into unleavened dough for flat cakes by grinding with a handstone on a quern (metate).

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Far Away

by: Cranes

There she goes
Far, far far away
There she goes
And everything she once had is gone
Everything she had, everything she loved
Everything that made her glad
Everything she loved is gone
There she goes, there she goes
And nothing seems to matter now
And all her things are scattered everywhere
And then from nowhere come these tears
Never ceasing, never ceasing
There she goes, there she goes
Once lit a star that shone




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