They're remarkable objects - I see it and think.. how many people did it feed ? How many people actually used it ? What strange things happened around it ?
I've two from Rhodesia. Far more simplistic than the Roman kind - they're both just bowled out flat granite rocks. But interestingly the person who gave them to me also found a Roman oil lamp out there - probably lost and unrecognised in some museum, I guess brought south by arab traders.
Mine are used as bird baths now and fair well in that duty.
That elephant in the background looks exactly like a gorilla until you zoom in. Must be one of those "gorilephants" Esmeralda worries about in Tarzan of the Apes.
@Wm - I see what you mean, but the tusks are a giveaway.
31 May 2023 at 05:30
[Image] Not me, you fool! - I mean the broken-in-half Roman rotary-quern. Such a quern works as described in this video. When complete, this stone would have had a hole in the top, and a hole in the side (you can see two-thirds of it at the point of breaking) which would have had a horizontal stubby stick inserted. Wheat, barley or rye would have been dribbled down the hole while turning this upper-part of the quern on a flat stone base, probably incised with lines to collect and channel the resulting flour. The flour came out all around the edges and was collected onto something like a leather hide underneath the quern, a flat board, or a larger flat stone. It was a very slow method of grinding, taking (I believe) more than an hour of hard work to grind enough grain for a loaf. This object we inherited from an ancient relative, who lived in West Northumberland in the vicinity of many Roman Ruins - which is why we believe it is Roman. But to be honest, I can't identify it with any degree of confidence. You might be able to see that it is fluted with vertical hollows - and I haven't been able to find any other similar-looking quern online in order to try and get a better date. Anyway, it's very old, and an impressive chunk of masonry.
"An archaeological artifact"
4 Comments -
They're remarkable objects - I see it and think.. how many people did it feed ? How many people actually used it ? What strange things happened around it ?
I've two from Rhodesia. Far more simplistic than the Roman kind - they're both just bowled out flat granite rocks. But interestingly the person who gave them to me also found a Roman oil lamp out there - probably lost and unrecognised in some museum, I guess brought south by arab traders.
Mine are used as bird baths now and fair well in that duty.
Sasha
30 May 2023 at 21:32
"Not me, you fool!"
Ha ha ha! Well played Sir.
30 May 2023 at 22:22
That elephant in the background looks exactly like a gorilla until you zoom in. Must be one of those "gorilephants" Esmeralda worries about in Tarzan of the Apes.
31 May 2023 at 04:48
@Wm - I see what you mean, but the tusks are a giveaway.
31 May 2023 at 05:30