An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c11.s19: 6.19 Querns, Mullers, Pestles, Mortars

An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c11.s19

Language: English

v1.c11.s19.t1 6.19.1 Querns — 9 parts

6.19 Querns, Mullers, Pestles, Mortars

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These stone objects form a distinct class of artefacts mainly associated with the treatment and preparation of plant foods, their occurrence presupposing an assured supply of these food items. It is, therefore, not surprising that it is only from the food-producing or Neolithic-Chalcolithic [4.6, 4.14] stage of life that they begin to appear in a regular way in the archaeological record and, more important, still continue to be used among communities unaffected by modern technology. Some of these objects already appear in a rudimentary form in the Mesolithic [4.5] phase, then become a regular feature of the pre-Harappa [4.2], Harappa [4.3] and post-Harappa cultures and continue down into the historical period. Basalt, sandstone, quartzite, granite, dolerite and schist are the most common rocks employed in the preparation of these artefacts. The use of coarse-grained rocks is intentional inasmuch as their abrasive surfaces serve to quicken the operations of grinding, pounding and crushing. Flaking and pecking are the two techniques adopted for shaping the blocks of raw material.

6.19.1 Querns

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These are made of large blocks of stone and are meant for grinding grain. Some of them could also have been used for preparing curry-paste and even colours. Three subtypes are available; saddle querns, legged querns, and rotary querns.

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Incomplete specimens of saddle querns with slightly concave surfaces are known from the Mesolithic sites of BAGOR and LANGHNAJ; Sankalia believes that the LANGHNAJ specimens were meant for preparing colours and not for grinding grain. Later they occur in the pre-Harappa and Harappa cultures, Chalcolithic cultures of c. India [4.14.5] and the Deccan [4.14.6] and Neolithic cultures of s. [4.6.8-10] and e. [4.6.6] India. They survive into the historical period and are still used in rural areas. Their base is generally irregular; hence it has been suggested that at sites like Harappa they were partly sunk into the ground and then used. In some cases the sides as well as the upper surface appear to have been shaped by flaking and pecking. They are usually elongated oval in overall shape, but round, square and rectangular examples also occur at sites like NAVDATOLI. The upper (i.e. working) surface is either flat or concave; in the latter case the depression has a maximum depth of about 15 cm. Some of the large examples like the ones found on the Neolithic hill-settlements of s. India are 50 to 60 cm long and 35 cm broad.

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In legged querns the base is provided with four short legs or feet. The sides as well as the upper surface show better preparation. In shape they are elongated with straight sides and straight or rounded ends. Although some examples have been reported from Harappa, the type appears to be most commonly associated with the early historical and later periods. Intact specimens are known from KOLHAPUR, NASIK, NEVASA, NAVDATOLI, Taxila and several other sites. The working surface is either flat or slightly concave. At sites like NASIK one of the ends has a prominent projection, from over which the ground material including soft substances like curry-paste was probably received in a dish kept below. More importantly, at sites like Taxila and NASIK the ends as well as the sides are ornamented with incised decoration including Buddhist symbols like *svastika* and *tri-ratna*.

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Rotary querns involving the principle of rotary motion mark the most evolved form of hand-operated querns. They consist of two parts: a lower and an upper stone called the hopper. Two of these querns were found at Taxila, one belonging to the late Śaka-Parthian period (100 B.C. to A.D. 50) and the other to the 5th century A.D. A dozen complete specimens and also several broken pieces were found at NEVASA in the levels of early historical period (2nd or 1st century B.C.). In his comprehensive study of the specimens from NEVASA and other sites like Tadkod, LOTHAL, BILAWALI, NAGARJUNAKONDA, Taxila and SIRPUR, the examples from the latter site dated to the 6th-7th century A D. Sankalia (Sankalia *et al*., 1960, pp. 477-89) divided them into five classes, depending upon the variation in the position of the peg-handle provided for rotation on the hopper stone. He concluded that rotary querns (his classes 1 to 3) with a transverse hole for wooden fittings including the peg-handle) preceded in time those with a vertical handle as indicated by a socket on the rim (his classes 4 and 5). The latter type is widely used even today. He further postulated that the former category, including the solitary specimen found on surface at LOTHAL and ascribed to the late Harappa phase by the excavator, was introduced into India by the Indo-Greek or even the Phoenicians. [Childe, 1943, would ascribe the introduction of rotary querns in the subcontinent to the early centuries of the Christian era]. Arguing in favour of a late Harappa date of the Lothal example and taking note of the use till today of heavy wooden rotary querns by certain tribal groups of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa and also the fact that at Taxila the quern with vertical handle occurs in levels earlier than the one with transverse handles, Dikshit, 1968, pp. 25-46, contradicted Sankalia's view and argued for an indigenous origin of this device. But Sankalia, (1974, pp. 375-6,) remains unconvinced and draws attention to the conspicuous absence of rotary querns during the time-period covered by the Harappa and post-Harappa cultures.

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6. *19.2 Mullers*. These are elongated objects measuring up to 30 cm in length, and are particularly suitable for grinding operations on querns with a flat working surface. In some cases river pebbles and nodules are just used without any preparation, but there are many examples which appear to have been shaped by means of flaking and chipping. In some specimens the ends are bulbous. The body generally smoothened by use is cylindrical or shows facets; in the latter case, the cross-section may be squarish, biconvex, plano-convex or rectangular, depending upon the degree of wear. At Mohenjo-daro some specimens show use-marks on the ends, so they appear to have been used as pestles and not as mullers. The evidence from sites like NASIK and NEVASA shows that these objects were commonly used in the early historical, Indo-Roman and Muslim-Maratha periods. An intriguing feature about their temporal distribution is that, excluding some specimens found at AHAR and NAVDATOLI, they are generally absent at the Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites. It is, therefore, not improbable that in lieu of these artefacts another class of implements called rubber-stones or grinding stones was devised for this purpose. The latter, also made of coarse-grained rocks, are of various shapes—oblong, rectangular, oval or circular—and measure up to 20 cm in length. They are smoothened on one surface only and are well-suited for use on saddle querns. It may be pertinent to recall here that these objects occur in good numbers at the Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites.

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⁶ *19.3 Pestles*. Like mullers, these artefacts, also called pounders, are made on elongated blocks but differ from them in that it is the extremities and not the body that serve as the working portion. The ends show clear traces of battering, suggesting that they were used for pounding. They are also made of coarse-grained rock; a specimen from Harappa is made of alabaster. They occur in the pre-Harappa context at sites like Kot Diji and become common in Indus civilization. Again, they are found at many Iron Age Megalithic sites like MASKI, BRAHMAGIRI, JUNAPANI, and MAHURJHARI: the type survives into the historical period. Although stray examples are known from sites like PATPAD (Neolithic?) in Dt Kurnool this type appears to be rather uncommon at the Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites; hence it is possible that hammer-stones, which are found in good numbers, were employed for pounding and crushing. In size pestles measure about 20 cm in length and 4 to 5 cm in

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diameter. In regard to shape, they are cylindrical with featureless or tapering ends. The Iron Age burials at MAHURJHARI have made known some characteristic specimens. The upper portion is cylindrical, while the lower half is bulbous with either squarish or round cross-section.

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*6.19.4 Mortars*. Mortars, Sanskrit *udukkhala*, are stone blocks with a central depression which serves as the receptacle for the material to be pounded or crushed with a pestle or pounder. Called *rolu* in Telugu and still in use in many parts of s. India, they are generally squarish on plan and are of different sizes. The larger ones are about 75 cm in height, with each side measuring 60 to 70 cm in length; these are used among other things, for polishing *jowar* and *bajra* by making the grain wet with water and then pounding it with long wooden pestles, called *musala* in Sanskrit and *rokali* in Telugu, provided with a metal rim at the working end. The grain so treated is cooked like rice. The smaller mortars are meant for preparing *idli* and *dosa* paste with the help of a short, semi-cylindrical grinding stone called *patramu* in Telugu. In this connection it is interesting to note that the antiquity of these dishes stretches back to the 11th-12th century (Gode, 1955, pp. 226-31). Another type of mortar used in the rice-growing parts of s. India like coastal Andhra Pradesh is exclusively meant for removing husk from paddy. It is a flat, squarish or disc-shaped piece of stone, about 30 cm across, having a shallow, central depression; it is sunk into the house floor. Long wooden pestles are employed for pounding. The archaeological evidence for mortars in India is very uneven. Foote, 1916, p. 114, plate 52, reported one specimen from PATPAD; it is a large pebble of diorite with a shallow central depression. More remarkable are the circular platforms excavated at Harappa (Wheeler, 1947, p. 78). These have a diameter of 3·35 m and consist of five concentric circles of bricks fixed edge-wise into the ground. Wheeler thought that the central void originally housed a wooden mortar, about 1 m in height, probably consisting of a hollowed-in tree trunk; grain was pounded in these mortars by one or more workmen with the help of long wooden pestles. The brick platforms provided a hard standing surface for the workmen and also for processing the pounded grain Fragments of straw or husk were found on these platforms; more important, the central hollow of one of the platforms yielded burnt wheat and husked barley. Coming to the historical period, Bhir Mound and Sirkap at Taxila yielded stone mortars along with pestles dated to the period between 300 B C and A D 100. They have the form of a cup with a small depression at the top and have a flat or round base. The diameter varies between 11·5 and 20 cm. Several stone mortars of the Śilāhāra and Bahmanī periods were found at KOLHAPUR in Maharashtra. They measure 28 to 35 cm across and 25 to 32 cm in height. The base is either flat or tapers down. The central depression varies in diameter and depth.

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Childe, V.G., 1943, in *Antiquity*, 17, no. 65, March, pp. 19-26. Dikshit, M G. 1968, in *Studies in Indian History, Dr. A.G. Pawar Felicitation Vol*, Bombay. Foote, R.B. 1916, *Foote Collection of Indian Prehistoric & Protohistoric Antiquities*. Madras. Gode, P.K. 1955, in *Indian Linguistics*, 16. Sankalia, H D . 1953, in *Journal Anthropological Soc. of India*, 4; 1974, *Prehistory & Protohistory of India & Pakistan*, Poona. Sankalia, H D . et al, 1960, *From History to Pre-history at Nevasa (1954-6)*, Poona. Wheeler, R E M. 1947, in *AI*, 3 — S B DEO