Object type
rotary quern
Culture/period
Materials
stone
Technique
carving
Mint
Production date
-200 / -101
Seu
Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Girona
Current location
MASPG
Archaeological site
Illa Pedrosa
Township
Torroella de Montgrí (Baix Empordà)
Dimensions
350 (Ø) x 121 mm
Description
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Manual rotary mill from Pedrosa Island (Torroella de Montgrí, Baix Empordà), dated in the second century BC. The mill consists of two circular stones 35 cm in diameter each. The total height of the mill was approximately 25 cm. Both stones were linked by an axis, which was not preserved, and which was usually made of wood.
The lower stone of the mill (meta) is passive, that is to say, it did not move, and the upper stone (catillus) is active as it performs a complete rotary or semi-rotary movement.
The manual rotary mill appears in the classic sources of different Roman agronomists. Cato speaks of the “mola hispaniensis”, a term that has been attributed to this type of mill, possibly originally from the Iberian period in the Iberian Peninsula from where it would have spread around the Mediterranean.
© Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Girona
Omeka ID
3228