Recognising and understanding the object
- Materials
- stone, wood, metal fittings depending on construction
- Parts
- lower stone, rotating upper stone, feed opening, turning mechanism
- Purpose
- Grind grain between stones.
- Period
- Context of nineteenth- and twentieth-century household collections and historical accounts; individual objects differ in date.
- Place and distribution
- A nineteenth-century Kulniškė example in Nalšia Museum.
What it is and how it works
A rotary hand quern grinds between two stones. Movement of the upper stone and the gap between them matter to the result. Nalšia Museum describes a nineteenth-century example from Kulniškė and explains adjustment of the stone gap.
Evidence and examples
The visible stone is only part of the apparatus. Ask how it turned, where grain entered and where the ground material collected. If the wooden casing or handle is missing, a circular stone alone cannot show the complete sequence of work.
How to identify it
When comparing a quern with a mortar, first name the motion: rotation or pounding. When comparing it with a mill, ask what supplies the power. These questions explain the technology without assuming that all old millstones have the same date or produced flour of the same fineness.
