ABSTRACT
During the Neolithic age, from 10,000 BCE to 2500 BCE, the quern-a primitive handmill for grinding grain-applied stones to remove inedible husks and grind to grit or powder indigenous plants and seeds, the foods that enabled wanderers to enjoy a settled lifestyle. This technology of the Mesopotamians was adapted centuries later by the ancient Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, Indians, Koreans, and Romans. Querns, which date before 8000 BCE in Mesopotamia, introduced wild grass grains and nuts to the human diet by grinding to make them edible. The technology passed about the Mediterranean to Italy, Spain, and northwestern Africa, where cultivation of grain demanded some means of crushing heads to make flour for bread.
