An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c11.s19.t1.5

v1.c11.s19.t1.5

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.