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"Arguably, among the
most important tools in ancient Mesoamerican houses were the mano and
the metate, a pair of implements used to grind food. Their abundance in
the archaeological record is evident in excavation reports from this
region."--------2011,
Michael T. Searcy, "The Life-Giving Stone, Ethnoarchaeology Of Maya
Metates" p. 1.
Grinding stones represent one of the largest types of stone tools that were used by ancient cultures. They are actually a primitive form of machine that requires two parts to operate, a hand-held mano and a grinding plate. Grinding stones were every bit as important as a modern appliance might seem today. Their level of importance is inferred in Searcy's book title, "The Life-Giving Stone" in which he quotes a Maya women, "The metate is the reason we are alive." Although fewer of them are used with each passing day, grinding stones were once one of the most important tools used around the world to process food. |
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Recent studies, in Mesoamerica, have provided some insight into the average amount of time that women have spent grinding corn each day. Grinding corn on a metate with a two handed mano is labor intensive. Some households divided the work with different female members of the family. Girls traditionally learned how to use a metate at a very young age. An Aztec manuscript illustrates a mother teaching her thirteen year old daughter to grind maize with a metate. Searcy (2011, 86) averaged the daily grinding time estimates from five researchers (Chinas 1973, Foster 1979, Lewis 1949, Smith 2003, and Vogt 1970). The average daily time estimates vary widely, from a minimum of three hours to a maximum of eight hours. Some factors that would change the grinding time from person to person are age, proficiency, and type of grinding stone used. Searcy's study of four Maya women in Guatemala resulted in an average time of 4.8 hours of grinding time per day for a family of five. His data shows that, "grinding maize was an activity that potentially occupied a third of the day of Mesoamerican women." |
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In the past, there has been some concern that grinding stones haven't received the attention they should. But, in recent years, there does seem to be more interest in them, especially in the area of starch analysis. One of their drawbacks for study has been their large bulky size. For example, two of the examples pictured in this report from Illinois together weigh 122 pounds. So they are difficult to transport and store. In fact, Searcy (2011), comments how they've been described as a pain in the backside. He reports that they have often ended up as doorstops in museums. |
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The best tool that archaeologists currently have to study grinding stones is the ability to identify different types of starch by microscopic analysis of surface residue. Rough grinding surfaces are ideal locations for recovering samples of plant residues. It's been known for 150 years that starch granules can be identified to specific plants. Australia, China, Ecuador, Japan, New Guinea, and Israel are some of the countries reporting the use of starch identification on ancient grinding stones. Starch granules have been identified from a wide range of different types of plants, such as, Manioc, banana, water chestnut, palm, and walnut plus the more common cereal grains like corn, barley, wheat, and oats. In Queensland, Australia starch from grinding stones were identified as two different kinds of walnut. In Ecuador, the identification of maize starch on grinding stones date the domestic use of corn to between 5300 to 4960 cal years before present. In northern China at the Shizitan site cluster, 23,000 to 19,500 year old grinding stones contained starch from grasses, beans, yams, and snakegourd roots. Plant starch residue has been reported from grinding stones as early as 30,000 years ago. |
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Grinding stones were mainly used to process food. But evidence shows they were also used to process non-food items such as clay for ceramic containers, temper for clay used as a binder, paint pigments and lime. Nonetheless, food processing was still their main purpose. The Maya used them to grind Maize (corn) but also use them for many other types of foods such as cacao, beans, squash seeds, tomatoes, coffee, sugar, salt, and chilies. |
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The use of grinding stones, to process food, predates the development of farming. People who were living a hunting and gathering lifestyle began to develop traditional food grinding technologies by 30,000 years ago. A grinding stone made of basalt was found on the ancient site of Abu-Hureyra in Syria that dates to about 11,200 years before present. The Ohalo II site in the sea of Galilee in Israel produced a basalt grinding stone that dates to 23,000 years ago. In Australia the oldest grinding stones are reported from Cuddie Springs, in New South Wales, at 30,000 years ago. Another site, in southern Japan called Nishitaragasako, produced grinding stones that date to sometime between 32,000 and 29,000 years ago. |
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Grinding stones were developed in different forms all over the world. But the basic technique was fundamentally the same everywhere. The process involves two stones, a lower stone and an upper stone. The lower stone was either small enough to be portable or incorporated into a layer of bedrock. Some of the names they have been referred to are grinding stones, quern stones, grinding slabs, milling stones, metates, morahs, and bedrock metates. The upper stone was either small and held in one hand or large and used with both hands. They are referred to as hand stones and manos. Roller pestle is a name often used by collectors. A third style of grinder consists of two round discs that is turned by hand on a spindle and is called a rotary quern. |
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Grinding stones were made from many different types of stones depending on local sources. Each type of stone has unique properties that will determine how effective it will be for processing food. For example, a smooth stone will not grind as well as a rough stone and stones that wear quickly will release larger amounts of stone particles into the food that can effect dental health. The most common stones used in Mesoamerica before European contact were granite, rhyolite, andesite, quartzite, sandstone, and limestone. The most common stone used to make modern grinding stones is vesicular (contains tiny holes) granite. Studies show that this type of stone lasts the longest. |
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Metate craftsmen are called metateros in Mexico and in some countries farther south. They quarry the stone and manufacture both the metates and manos. Before the use of explosives, the fire technique was used to quarry the stone. Boulders were fractured by covering them with grass and weeds and setting them on fire. Throwing water on the hot surface fragmented the stone into usable pieces. Hampton (1999) also reported the same quarrying technique by the Dani in Irian Jaya on the Island of New Guinea. Modern-day metateros use metal tools to finish shaping their rough quarried stone into metates. They use various sizes of iron hammers, chisels, and adzes to complete a process that was once accomplished with stone tools. |
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There may not be as many different styles of grinding stones as stars in the sky but, when looking at them in a world perspective, there are a lot of them. Hunter/gathers began using naturally shaped stones, with a flat surface, for grinding. Over time, with the development of farming communities, grinding stones evolved into more complex forms that were manufactured by specialized craftsmen. Most grinding stones did not have any support legs. Support leg styles range from having one large pedestal leg to others that have two wide legs, three legs and some have four. The metate grinding stones of Mesoamerica are rectangular in shape. The most efficient style are the trough metates that have built-in rectangular basins. Studies show they could grind more grain per unit of time than basin or flat/concave metates. The most efficient stone grinders are rotary. They were particularly well established in parts of Asia and Europe. Earliest examples from China date to 2,200 years ago. They are often referred to as rotary querns and consist of two disc shaped stones, one on top of the other. The top stone is turned by hand on a spindle and is perforated with a hole that feeds in the grain. |
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It's interesting to note that grinding stones were not the healthiest way to process food. Even though they were generally made from hard igneous rocks like granite or basalt they still wore down. The health issue involves the amount of grit that was introduced into the food being ground. Examination of the skeletal remains of many ancient societies around the world, where stone grinders were used, indicate a damaging effect on dental health. The addition of small stone particles into food produced a secondary grinding effect that wore away tooth enamel. The end result was loss of teeth and other related dental illness at an early age. For example, the teeth of ancient Egyptians show this type of wear pattern. Their average age is reported to have been between 34 and 38 years. |
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Another health issue, that grinding stones are responsible for, are wear and tear on the bones of people who have used them. History records that grinding food was traditionally done by women. The fact that the work was labor intensive is supported by the study of skeletal remains. Skeletons that were studied on the 9,500 year old Syrian site of Abu Hureyra show evidence of osteoarthritis and injuries to the toes, knees, hips and lower back. These types of injuries were almost exclusive to the bones of females. They are thought to have developed from repetitive work in a kneeling position. In-other-words the type of work that would involve the use of grinding stones. |
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Old taboos and Folkloric beliefs, concerning grinding stones, are still respected in some areas. Some Maya traditions in Guatemala relate such ideas as, "if you leave a metate out under the stars or the moon, it will break" or "if you leave it out in the sun it will become dull." Another belief is that "comparing a metate or mano to other metates and manos will cause them to break." Other examples are, "a man stepping over a metate may cause only female offspring and the reverse for the woman," Eating while grinding may cause illness or injury to children," and "a man touching a metate just after a woman has been grinding may cause only female offspring," These accounts and others suggest a belief that metates have a certain amount of spirit power. Especially when accounts describe the metate as being able to "see" the stars, if it's taken outside the house at night. |
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Although most grinding stones seem worn and rough, in their day they would have been one of the most important tools in a household. They represent a system of processing food that was hard work. In today's modern society, drudgery is the word that comes to mind. But as one Maya woman said, "the metate is the reason we are alive." That pretty much says it all. |
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"REFERENCES"
1976, Briuer, "Chevelon Canyon And
Cayote Creek Pueblo, Arizona, USA, 700-8700BP," American Antiquity. |
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