STONE 



HAND-MILL. 31726, 1, 2. [Plate CLXIL] 



Small stone mill found in Villa I. 1 



The mill is well preserved except that the handle is broken out 

 and the cross-bar of the upper part defective, these parts being of 

 iron. The stone is a gray lava, probably from Mount Vesuvius. 2 



In the construction two pieces of this material, forming the upper 

 and lower mill-stones, were employed. The lower stone, which is 

 somewhat wider than the other, has on its upper side the form of a 

 low cone, in the top of which there is a shallow depression 3 where the 

 standard which supported the upper stone turned to and fro. The 

 upper stone, which has a round hole in the center, is concave on both 

 sides. The lower concavity, which extends quite to the edge, fits 

 over the conical top of the lower stone, and forms with it the grind- 

 ing surfaces; the upper concavity serves as a hopper. The hole in 

 the middle was crossed by an iron bar, the center of which, now miss- 

 ing, must have held the shaft that played in the above mentioned 

 depression. The manipulation of the mill was facilitated by means 

 of a handle which was inserted into a rectangular hole in the side 

 of the upper stone. The substances ground fell out over the sides 

 of the lower stone. 



This is the ordinary Roman hand-mill, examples of which occur 

 as early as the middle of the second century B.C. 4 It is an improve- 

 ment of a type still found in the Levant, consisting of two flat stones 

 of which the upper has a hole in the center, and is provided with a 

 handle at the side. 5 



Height, m. 0.09 (lower part)+o.i35 (upper part) =0.225 ( = 8.85 in.). Diameter 

 of bottom, about m. 0.38 ( = 14.96 in.). Diameter of top. m. 0.34 ( = 13.38 in.). 

 Diameter of hole in center of upper stone, m. 0.095. Height of edges of same hole, 

 m. 0.025. I ron Dar which crossed it, m. 0.027X0.015; length of stub remaining, 

 m. 0.03. Hole for handle, m. 0.068X0.045. 



Lead was employed to hold the inserted iron parts in place. 



1 A similar, but not identical mill was found in Room X. Pasqui, J. c. col. 491, col. 535, No. 139. 



1 Cf. Pasqui, I. c. and Mau, Roem. Mitteil. IV (1889), p. 296. 



3 Diameter, m. 0.06. 



* Two specimens from the Roman camp before Numantia, Schulten, Jahrb. xxii, Am. p; 477. 



6 Bluemner, Tech. u. Term. Vol. i, p. 26, quoting Tournefort, Voyage du Levant, i, p. 402. 



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